Pride Bloopers
by TaigaKunaix
Summary: Introducing to you, the amazing big ten of the Pride Troopers, disciples of true justice, the greatest heroes of Universe 11! Despite them being heroes, that doesn't mean they're lives are as strict and linear as a pile of bricks. Sometimes, our universal heroes have stories to be told… and these are a portion of them. [Rated T for sentence enhancers; aka curse words]
1. Tremble Before Him, The Feared Boss!

**Bruuuh, there are barely any Pride Trooper names in the characters category xD**

 **Author's Note: This a'here is a bunch of one-shot stories pertaining to the Pride Troopers of Universe 11. I couldn't help it, had to get in on these** **Primed Power Rangers** **heroes because they just seem like a funny dynamic. They aren't in chronological order, nor are they of a strict length, nor are they mean to be considered canon either.**

 **Although… that second note wouldn't be too much of a** _ **bad**_ **idea. This would be quite a better investment compared to writing a zombie story xD.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Tremble Before Him, The Feared Boss Of Them All!**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

"Justice…" Toppo raised his hand, pointing all of his digits at the man before him. Said criminal jumped out of way of a previous attack, only to be in dead-aim of Toppo's trademark technique. "...FLASH!"

Rapid-fire ki blasts erupted from the Pride Trooper's fingers, the criminal was hit by them and didn't have enough time to erect a barrier. In fact, his barrier wouldn't even be _enough_ to block from most of Toppo's ki, and he was sent back a few dozen meters by the sheer force. Once the dust had subsided, the criminal received a kick right to the face.

"Justice KICK!" Dyspo's boot harshly made contact with the side of the man's head. He touched base with the ground and smirked. "You think you can try to pull a fast one on any us, Mr. Hunwow?"

Said 'Hunwow' stumbled back up, looking comically offended. "It's _Hunhow_ for you!" He pointed at the two Pride Troopers standing side by side. "You and your little _heroes_ are no match for my league! My men have prepared far too long to ever be stomped by the likes of you!"

Behind both Dyspo and Toppo, the whirlwind tornado-esque Zoiray was busy spinning two of Hunhow's strongest men, the sound of the windpower made the three look back momentarily before one of the men went flying right between Dyspo and Toppo and _right next to_ Hunhow, faceplanting into the building behind him.

Hunhow blinked. "Well… not him of course!"

"Give it up, Hunhow!" Toppo swung his arm, articulating. "The last of your men have been seized completely."

This is where Hunhow started to laugh. "You're gravely mistaken! If you can't even defeat me, you _definitely_ cannot defeat my boss!" He continued to maniacally laugh at both the Pride Troopers until he was interrupted by the other guy Zoiray was previously spinning around. Hunhow's eyes were closed, so he didn't see his henchman flying at him at nigh Mach speed, slamming into his torso and sending the both of them back and through the building in front of Dyspo and Toppo.

Dyspo raised a brow before scoffing. "Well, I guess that solves that."

"Mm-hmm." Toppo nodded, before turning to the smaller Trooper behind him. "Zoiray, watch your aim next time. A few more inches, and that guy would have hit me."

Zoiray was walking towards them with a hand raised and a tiny smirk on his face. "My bad." He stopped to stand alongside Dyspo and Toppo with arms crossed, while gazing forward just like his two counterparts. After at least several seconds, Zoiray frowned. "Umm… what we looking at?"

"I don't know." Dyspo shrugged. "I felt like there was something else coming, but I kinda blanked out."

"There is." Toppo is the only one who was dead serious at the moment. "I can sense them, and they are moving rapidly-"

A random laugh interrupted Toppo, and it was coming from Hunhow. Surprisingly enough, this guy wasn't dead from that insane impact. "HERE HE COMES! YOU PRIDE TROOPERS WILL FEEL HIS _WRATH_!"

All three of them got into their fighting poses once they turned around, as that was where this energy was coming from. The sound of a really loud shriek could be heard far away from where they were standing, far ahead of the mountain they were on. The loud being jumped up so fast, that what the Pride Troopers saw was a black shadow going up into the sky.

"This one's gonna be difficult." Dyspo crouched.

"He's getting nearer, but he's still airborne." Zoiray looked up at the sky, they couldn't see the being but the shriek was more distant this time. The Pride Troopers shifted, unintentionally putting their backs together as if to fight as a team, as that is what they always did.

"Get ready…" Toppo narrowed his eyes. "It's coming, and it's about to-"

The being slammed so hard onto the ground that the Pride Troopers had to jump back from the colossal impact. Judging from the sheer size of the damage, this being was huge enough to create even more debris that covered its body fully. The trio looked in shock, and as the dust settled, the being let out a shriek once more…

Maybe they _all_ misheard that shriek, because before it sounded like something really intimidating. Now that this enemy was right in front of them, it made the same high pitched sound that Zoiray would make if he saw a archnid on his ceiling right after waking up from a bomb ass nap. That totally won't be written in the future.

This didn't make them drop their guard however, the heroes have faced many'a foe in their time, and this unique one wasn't going to trump them at all. The dust settled around the ground, revealing the being's bottom legs, to his ball-like torso, and up to his face. Toppo, Dyspo, and Zoiray all raised confused brows at this appearance; the being was _nothing_ but fluffy, everything and everywhere on it had soft and fluffy fur, and this thing was at least a hundred feet tall.

"You three have dispatched of my henchman?!" Not only did this thing have a weird screech, but this giant being had such a high pitched voice it was becoming exponentially harder to take him seriously. "That will not sit by with me, for I am… the only and only…" The being raised a hand, and swung it back to his side with much clarity. "COMMANDER REGAL FLOOFBALL!"

Through the obvious pause of such an introduction, the Pride Troopers blinked several times. There was a silent moment amongst them before Dyspo cocked his head forward with a scrunched look on his face. "Uhh, _what?_ "

"What do you mean 'what'?" Floofball paused. "Do I have to repeat myself?"

"Actually, no." Zoiray shook his head. "You… you really don't."

"Good. Now DIE!" Floofball slammed his fists to the ground, creating trails of energy that went straight to the Troopers' directions. Dyspo, Toppo, and Zoiray flew right off the ground to look down at Floofball. When the commander raised his fists again, the energy created from his previous attack as well as the rocks locked on to and targeted the trio, the blasts flying at them at immense speed.

"Crap!" In conjunction with the previous _what the fuck_ expression Zoiray had, he now had a blast flying at him in which he couldn't dodge at raw speed, but he sent his own ki blast to cancel out the closest attack before engaging into a whirlwind. "Double Pride Spin!" He started rotating at both horizontal and vertical directions, making the blasts and rocks that targeted him fly out and away from his person.

Toppo slapped away several of the energy blasts and rocks, going straight for Floofball himself. _Dammit, this one is not something to be trifled with…_ Toppo charged at him airborne, and Floofball shot a gaze at his general direction. "JUSTICE…" The leader reeled his fist back and quickly pushed it forward. "CRU-"

Floofball raised a hand quick enough to block Toppo's punch. The leader raised his brows, and Floofball smirked. "That meager punch will never come to hurting m-" A random energy blast from Floofball, that was supposed to hit Zoiray, backfired right into his own eye, causing the giant to stumble back and hold his eye with one hand. Toopo looked in the direction of that blast to see Zoiray had just got out of spinning.

Dyspo lunged at his own classified speed, landing a critical punch right at Floofball's stomach making him stumble back further. The Trooper flew backwards, and without warning, Floofball's unexpected reaction was emitted: he started to wail.

" _AACK! MUH AIS!_ "

Toppo furrowed his brow. "Uhh…"

"I guess… kicking him in the stomach impairs his speech?" Dyspo tilted his head.

"NO IT DOESN'T, YOU FOOL!" Floofball zoomed in on Dyspo with one eye closed. "HOW DARE YOU HIT MY EYE!"

"Uhh," Zoiray raised a finger to catch Floofball's attention. "That was me, by the way."

"YOUUU…" Floofball raised an arm, charging up a blast to aim at Zoiray. "I WILL SEND YOU FLYING ACROSS THE PLANET!"

Being the sassy person he was, Zoiray shook his head while turning Floofball's unfortunate left eye into a pun. "I don't _see_ that happening."

Floofball threw the blast at Zoiray's direction, and Toppo teleported right in time. "Focus on the prize!" He zoomed forward and feeled his fist back. "Justice… PUNCH!"

Toppo powered up a punch that was able to push back the energy blast, and Dyspo flew behind Floofball to send a light-speed kick to his back.

"OOOF!" Floofball exclaimed.

Just for the sake of exact imagery, imagine the Roblox death sound when he yelped, except louder and way too high-pitched.

The blast was too close to him, and he screamed loudly as he was being by his own attack. "NOOOOOOOOO-"

Dyspo covered his sensitive ears from the loud noise, and they watched as Floofball was pulverized by his own blast. The light was gone, and the sky returned back to normal as the trio finally descended downwards.

Zoiray's feet touched the ground. "I kinda didn't need you guys' help for that."

"We were just making sure." Dyspo looked down at the other Pride Trooper. "That ends that."

"Yep, it does." Toppo shrugged before inhaling and exhaling calmly. He turned to both Dyspo and Zoiray with a smile on his face. "Let's head back."

"The ship should be to the north. I'll call the others to notify them of our status." Toppo turned to the ship's supposed direction while pulling up his trusted watch. The three finally departed without a last look at the criminals' main base as they exited; their job here, was done-

"STOP… RIGHT THERE!" Hunhow's dumbass completely came out of rubble to address the three, they had completely forgotten about him. The criminal was about to say something but only gasped loudly at the sight of his own boss.

Well, what he could make of it, because now it looked like scattered piles of fluff.

"FLOOFY!" Hunhow ran toward the mass, before sinking to his knees and holding his hands out dramatically. "After… after all that we've done, all that we've had my love, and this is what has become of you?!"

Dyspo and Toppo had to hold back a sigh. Zoiray took a long time to blink before rubbing his temple. "This just keeps getting worse…"

"YOU THREE WILL TASTE DEFEAT, FOR KILLING MY BOSS!" Hunhow stood up to launch himself at the Pride Troopers. Zoiray sighed, quickly turned into a Whirlpool, and stepped in front of Dyspo and Toppo. Hunhow didn't get a chance to pull back, and he ended up being swung far, far away from where he was.

Exiting out of the whirlpool, Zoiray looked back to see Hunhow turn into a makeshift bone-filled jet as he soared through the sky while yelling. Zoiray then smoothly turned around to face both Pride Troopers with a smile. "Now _that_ ends that."

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 **Regal Floofball Beerus Belmond… XP, that mcfucker was strong as hell. Now that I think about it, his name is freaking beast.**

 **Can somebody animate this, I imagine this would be funny to animate lol.**


	2. Accidental Justice

**I wonder if anyone got the random name reference of Hunhow for the last chapter (It's from a game).**

 **Listen, listen,** _ **listen…**_ **everything that goes down in one chapter is a single instance, some of these OC characters in the story do not necessarily need such huge descriptions because they're not gonna be prevalent throughout this whole collection. Probably maybe** _ **one**_ **of them will make a reappearance but that's brief. There is no giant game plan here, this is just a collection of oneshots that I toss out every once in awhile lol.**

 **Cleared that out hopefully. Lemme get on with the prelude of this chapter, I'ma go that for certain chapters because the context might be a little weird in some of them. So...**

 **You ever just stroll through the streets one night only to have some big buff guy bump into you with a wallet in his hand? Well, Dyspo has...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Accidental Justice**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

Dyspo enjoyed the times he'd be just walking through the streets of cities in Netfiss. Walking in general is therapeutic, to the Roadrunner-esque bunny it was a form of relaxation that came in the easiest execution possible. It was also dusk at the moment, not many people have been roaming and driving around these parts of the streets, so Dyspo didn't run into many people that would recognize him easily.

Not only has he been off for the past few weeks, but he, Toppo, and Kahseral had arranged something and the last time he checked, it won't be until two hours. He had more than enough time before he'd have to go back to where his car was in order to drive off over to Kahseral's estate. Dyspo rolled his shoulders before looking at his watch to check the ti-

 _IT'S 25:78 ALREADY?!_ All that reassurance of having enough time was thrown out the window, because now he had only _twenty_ _minutes_ to meet up with the squad, and he was quite far away from his car. He didn't think he'd resort to using his speed to run straight over to where his car is, it's been awhile since he last used his Light Bullet technique over long periods of time, even though it's meant to be used in short bursts…

Some guy had turned the corner and ran right into Dyspo's back, making the Pride Trooper stumble forwards and whipping around to see some buff guy holding a wallet that obviously did not belong to him. Judging from how _thick_ it looked, said wallet probably belonged to some wealthy person and this guy was wearing a baggy GreenArk hoodie.

Just an off-note here, Dyspo really hates the GreenArk brand.

Justifiably alerted, Dyspo pointed at the man who was quickly getting up. "You! Stop right there! What do you think you're doing?"

The guy looked at him with a tiny sliver of a 'shit-I-just-got-caught' glint in his eyes, but he hid it with the arrogance he displayed when he stole the dang wallet. The thief's voice was _deep_ , sounding threatening to anyone would couldn't punch a person at the speed of light. "What's it to you, bunny boy?"

"Do you not know who I am?" Dyspo crossed his arms, scoffing. "You've jumped _right_ into your punition, _old man_. Give the wallet here!"

The guy's eye twitched. "I'm not _old_ , asshole! I ain't giving you this wallet."

"Then I'll make you hand it over." Dyspo decided to do this quickly. The thief had jumped away from Dyspo's simple attempt at grabbing the wallet, but Dyspo had another thing in mind. It was easy to execute his Light Bullet technique, so this wouldn't budge him at all; he made an attempt to punch the guy lightly on his chest at a very rapid speed so that it'd blow him back, and make him lose his loose ass grip on the thick wallet.

 _Unfortunately_ , the thief jumped again, in the middle of Dyspo zooming forward, and was airborne while Dyspo had his palm outstretched. Instead of Dyspo punching the dude's chest... his fist went straight at the thief's dick.

Dyspo was kind of right though; this thief indeed _jumped_ right into his punition.

"Oh- Uh…" Dyspo got out of his quick speed movement to see the thief back up. Because of how quick Dyspo was, the thief didn't seem to register what just happened. "That… that wasn't on purpose. I wanted you to let go, and then you jumped, and the force of my fist was sent to your-" Suddenly, this buff, tall, deep voiced man let out a shriek that made it more than obvious that he was in indescribable pain.

Quick PSA: If you're going to be a strong person, and you plan on hitting someone, do not hit them anywhere _near_ their reproductive organs, regardless of how much you hate them or the brand of clothing they wear. Since Dyspo himself is a male, he didn't want to fathom getting punched in the dick at _light speed_.

"Y-YOU TH-THREW A CHEAP SHOT AT ME!"

The Pride Trooper, after picking up the wallet from the floor, was slouching a little at the sight before him. The thief was still on the ground, his legs were closed together and shaking, he had broke out into a sweat while shakily pointing at Dyspo. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

At this point, Dyspo didn't know whether to feel satisfied at the fact that he now had the wallet in his hand, or if he should feel bad because this man pretty much lost his reproductive edifice. "Oh..."

The sound of police cars were heard getting closer and the thief was still on the ground, but he did sit up a little bit or at least tried to. "IF I CATCH YOU NEXT TIME…" The police cars rolled up just in time to take this poor guy away. "I WILL SMACK YOU DOWN!"

That obviously isn't going to happen, but the policeman came over to first see the buff thief on the floor with his legs shaking, and they exchanged confused before looking at Dyspo. The Pride Trooper nodded at them while gesturing to the thief, and they proceeded to take him in. Another car came rolling by, and judging from how expensive the car looked, it was probably the person whose wallet was stolen. The individual was a man in a suit, he instantly recognized Dyspo as a member of the universal Pride Troopers, and gave him a praise of gratitude over finding his wallet. Throughout all of this, Dyspo didn't easily shake off the fact that the thief's deep voice accidentally went up about two octaves, but he did take the gratitude of both the man and the police officers with much pride. They had left, and as the police car drove off the thief was giving Dyspo the meanest mug he could possibly conjure.

Well, that and plus the lingering pain on his face because his man parts probably still hurt.

After giving that car a long look, Dyspo sighed before shaking his head and looking down at his fist. He then decided to check his watch only to sigh even heavier at the time before him. Dyspo was one of those people who were ' _nearly almost there but not quite'_ in Cocotte's wise words; he would either show up somewhere way too early or way too late, there was never a middle ground with him at all. It may or may not have been ten minutes after the supposed time he was supposed to be at Kahseral's estate.

Suddenly, spamming his short burst speed ability in the middle of the night did not seem like a bad idea at all. _I'm gonna be a little late_ …

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 **You guys, RIP the thief's dick… He ain't having no kids.**


	3. The Door Of Esoteric Power

**Happy Thanksgiving to youse! It's quite late over here and I've been busy all day, but I still wanted to update this because why not, eh?. And ye, the last chapter was a OPM reference. Couldn't help it, but it was a sweet idea lol.**

 **So, there's this one door that nobody in the Pride Trooper gang has tried extensively hard to open. This is the one day where they finally do...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **The Door Of E** **soteric Power**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

"So basically, our main ship has a back door that's nearly impossible to open." Kettol reclined into his seat.

"Legend says that it's been _decades_ since it was last opened." Tupper's eyes were closed. He had a Jumba shake in one hand (it's a fruity combination of fruit nectar and sometimes a sort of wine), sipping from the straw every now and then.

Kunshi gave the 'stached Trooper a look. "It's not a legend if it's true, Tupper." The other glared at him, and all Kunshi did was throw a smirk back.

"Are you guys talking about that fuselage door again?" Cocotte entered the main control room of the ship, stretching her arms behind her shoulders. "That hasn't been brought up in ages."

It's true; the Troopers pretty much forgot about that infamous door's existence. The fuselage room had a front door anyway, and the only reason no one has ever _opened the door from the inside_ is because that door has a short corridor with another door that does not open from the inside of the fuselage room. Within this large ship, every door so far has to be pulled open or automatically sliding on its own. Basically, this back door was meant to be the entrance, and the front was meant to be the exit, but they found using the latter to be more convenient. That is also the same reason as to why they didn't bring it up to the technicians who'd check on the ship every once in awhile for maintenance, the Troopers simply don't care much about that door other than the fact that it's unopenable.

"Yes we are." Kunshi looked at Cocotte. "I think that it's probably rusted off or something, I can probably open it."

"Umm..." Kettol frowned at Kunshi. "If it's rusted off, then that makes harder to open."

Tupper placed his juice box on the counter beside the large control panel. "Have you two forgotten that the material used for this entire ship is rust-proof?"

"Exactly." Cocotte placed a hand on her hip. "Other than Kunshi, are you guys planning on trying to open that thing?"

The three guys spoke at the same time. "More than likely."

More like _definitely_.

The four of them stood in front of the large, imposing metal door. Apparently, Cocotte did say that their little plan was stupid but here she was standing alongside Kettol, Tupper, and Kunshi on an attempt to take on this challenge. Cocotte blinked up and down at it and then looked down to Kunshi. "You first."

Kunshi scoffed out a laugh, cracked his knuckles loudly. He took a few steps until he was at arm's reach from the door's knob, grabbing the knob, and then barely powering up. He raised his shoulder in conjunction with gripping the knob, and then he twisted and pulled quickly.

First of all, the knob didn't even twist. Second of all, the door didn't even budge at him pulling. And third of all, Kunshi was now repeatedly pulling and twisting the knob and grunted as he did so because this dang door was able to withstand his strength even if he was slightly powered up.

"Okay, you didn't have to do _all that_ , Kunshi." Kettol waved a hand at the struggling Pride Trooper, addressing the fact that this guy legit powered up to open a damn door. "Watch out, I got this." Kunshi turned to look at Kettol, who was now getting ready to open the door. The green Trooper held the knob, and twisted only for it to have no avail. He did it again, but the knob didn't turn at all. "Wait…"

"It's not that simple, Kettol!" Tupper nudged Kettol to move aside. "Allow me, to demonstrate how it's truly done. This door would not stand a chance against my weight." Tupper held the knob, turned it and pulled while sending a hefty amount of weight towards the body parts that were making force against the door. He realized that this door was not moving at all, so he amped up the weight and effort to the point where he was grunting, his grip on the door getting harder-

"Tupper…" Cocotte looked down at the tiled ground.

Kunshi spoke up for Cocotte. "You're fucking up the floor."

"Huh?" Tupper blinked, and looked down at his feet. Not only couldn't he open this impossible damn door, but now his feet were beneath the ground because of the amount of weight on his person. _Shit_ _._ "Oh, crap…" He decided to let go of all the metaphorical weight and stepped over to look at the two footholes in the ground before scratching the back of his head. "Sorry."

"Alright, what the heck's going on here?" The four turned around to see the smaller blue-skinned Trooper approach them. "I heard a loud noise out of the lounge room, and I came here because this is where the s- WHAT THE HECK?" Zoiray exclaimed at the two holes on the ground before he frowned deeply. "Who did this?!"

The Justice proud group knew better than to just hint at the person who did it, pointing to the culprit was beneath them. So instead, Kettol, Cocotte, and Kunshi simultaneously said the name of the obvious person who did it. "Tupper did it."

"Hey!" The said Pride Trooper placed his arm on his hips. "Snitches…"

" _Dude,_ " Zoiray leaned forward with his hands. He's one of the people in people in the group who articulate a lot, "Dyspo appointed the maintenance team like a week ago! Why the heck did you do this?"

"We were trying to open that door." Kettol thumb-pointed at the door that hadn't opened at all.

Tupper added on. "It wasn't on purpose, these guys were having trouble so I decided to help."

"What _help_ requires you to break through the floor in order to open that door?!" Zoiray crossed his arms. "If Dyspo sees this, he's going to _freak_."

"See what?"

It really sucks that Dyspo's hearing is insanely superb, Zoiray wasn't even yelling for Dyspo to easily hear him. And that guy was in the control room with him. "Is there someth-"

When Dyspo saw the two holes in the ground, his previously calm demeanor was now overshadowed by a gasp and a look that usually comes right before a heart attack.

Kettol blinked, and then reassured the whole situation. "Dyspo, uhh… they were trying to open that door, and Tupper messed up the floor."

"But _why_?!" Dyspo got really angry. "You know how much it _costs_ for simple maintenance even if there isn't any major damage to our ship?!"

"I know, I know…" Tupper said with a sheepish look. "I'm sorry, but.. This door won't even budge."

"Are you seriou- you know what, all of you, step aside." Dyspo approached the door with an annoyed look on his face. " _I'll take this_." The bunny held and turned the knob, turned his body around to make it look like he was running, and he proceeded to pull really hard thinking that it would bust open.

He ended up losing his footing and face planting the ground.

Dyspo stood up again and pulled, and pulled, and freaking pulled but the door wouldn't move to his force. He even started planting his feet against the door, and trying to open it with all his might despite standing sideways.

Zoiray looked at Dyspo with his sass face, who was now pulling as hard as his front tooth's enamel against the door. "Why don't _you just_ open the door?"

Dyspo stopped what he was doing, and looked up for a moment with a frown before looking at Zoiray. "What does it look I've been doing?"

"Not opening the door." Zoiray raised a sassy brow.

Behind what became six disgruntled Pride Troopers were three of the big guys of the group. Toppo the leader, Kahseral the commando, and Jiren the umm… the Grey.

Kahseral had his hands on his hips looking over at the six Pride Troopers. "What's with all the hullabaloo?"

Zoiray flailed and scoffed. "No one says that, Kahseral!"

"Well, _I_ do!" Kahseral returned the sass with arched eyebrows.

"Why are there two holes on the ground?" Toppo furrowed a brow. "Who did that?"

Again, pointing to the culprit is below all of the Pride Troopers. So all five of them instantly said the name aloud. "Tupper."

"Seriously?!" Tupper looked at the five he was primarily with. "Why can't you all let _me_ tell him that I did it?"

"Because you probably wouldn't." Kunshi smirked at him, and Tupper just glared at him because that's lowkey true.

"And why did you do this?" Toppo asked, looking confused.

"Door." Was all Cocotte said, and that was when Toppo made eye contact with a sideways Dyspo who had his feet on the door and his hands on the knob.

Dyspo blinked up at Toppo. "I'm actually trying, too."

Kahseral look confused. "But why is everyone here?"

Kettol scratched the top of his head. "We all wanted to open this door, and we all pretty much failed."

"You guys, that door can't be open." Toppo, the voice of ultimate reason, shook his head. "It's probably bolted from the inside, hence why you all are having so much trouble."

See, now _that_ makes a lot of sense.

Dyspo straight faced. "So all this effort was for nothing?"

"Probably." Kahseral shrugged. "All of you, just come to the main room with me and forget about this door. It's helpless at this point, unless you want to break the door down."

Dyspo wouldn't dare to test that out by kicking the door down. In fact, none of them would dare to try and dismantle or destroy the door because this ship was made with some of the strongest, most expensive materials, and _nobody_ would be willing to pay a shitton of money just to bust down some mystery door. " _How about nope."_

"We'll leave it be." Kettol sighed. "Besides, we got something else to pay for." In regards to the two footholes on the floor, he glanced at Tupper.

"I'm paying for that, don't worry." The weight-willed man reassured everyone. Jiren looked from the others to the door.

"Screw it. Next time, we're coming for that stupid door." Dyspo shot a look at the door itself.

Cocotte looked at Dyspo. "You can't just call the maintenance men to get the door open?"

Dyspo paused at Cocotte and then he shrugged a nod. "Well, that too."

They all decided that trying so hard for a door was useless, so the six of them turned around to follow both Toppo and Kahseral to the main room while talking with one another. Jiren approached the door, stepping over the footholes with his arms crossed. The knob didn't even look that strong either, a simple turn movement would be enough to just open the door. The rest of the group caught the fact that Jiren wasn't with them, and they turned right in time to see Jiren hold the knob momentarily before _casually_ opening the door.

What they all saw was a dark, dusty, yet simple corridor that should lead to another entrance of the fuselage room. Toop, Dyspo, Kahseral- damn near everybody made sounds of pure amazement before walking closer to Jiren and the door.

Zoiray looked at the door, then at Jiren, then at the door, and then at Jiren, and then he narrowed his eyes. " _YA KNOW…_ "

Dyspo's hands twitched as he raised them. "We could've gotten Jiren to freaking open the damn door this whole time!"

"Jiren!" Toppo's eyes were widened. "How the hell did you open that so easily?!"

The Grey Pride Trooper had the same blank face that he almost always had, but he didn't see why everyone was so worked up by the fact that he opened a door. So, he calmly explained to them in intricate detail... "I just turned the knob the other way and pushed the door open."

Everyone and their uncle slapped their foreheads and groaned at their own stupidity, because this whole time they were _pulling_ the door open.

"Oh for fucks sake, I could have done that this whole time!" Cocotte groaned, and Dyspo turned to her with a smirk.

"But you didn't."

"Shut up." She slapped his arm and Dyspo snickered. "How is that door so strong anyways? It should've broke when Tupper was pulling it."

"There is a frame around the door that doesn't allow anyone to pull it. The door is also… really heavy." Toppo looked at the outer frame that would block the door from opening through pulling rather than pushing. Another round of facepalms came about the six troopers, they felt like complete dumbasses.

Matter of fact, everyone save for Jiren felt like complete dumbasses because they didn't figure this out.

"Remember that rule we all had where 'the one who pushes a door open is the idiot'?" Kettol placed a hand on his hip. "Let's change that."

"Yup. Let's." Cocotte blinked a few times.

"Gee, I feel retarded." Kunshi looked down at the ground.

"That's reasonable." Zoiray threw so much shade in Kunshi's direction, that Kunshi head shot up to swerve its way to him. He just gave Kunshi a sugar-coated smile. "I think we've cracked all the possible mysteries of this entire ship, thanks to Jiren of course."

"I think there's another mystery we need to figure out." Kahseral looked back at the sliding doors that should lead to the main room. "Where is Vuon?"

"Wasn't he in the lounge room with you guys?" Cocotte frowned, gesturing to Dyspo, Kahseral and Toppo.

"Well yeah," Dyspo looked back, "But he left a little while ago. He's probably in the main room, manning the ship." The other Troopers decided to go with that as most of them went into the main room in order to meet and see if Vuon was indeed there.

He wasn't. He was in one of the other rooms sleeping like a log, and the ship wasn't put on auto either so they were going a bit off track in the middle of space. When they realized the ship's control room was empty this whole time, almost all of the entire group exclaimed the slumbering Trooper's name.

" _VUOOOOOON!"_

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Sometimes, you have to push a door in order to open it…**

 **Sometimes, you have to be the idiot to get the job done. Ain't that deep?**

 **That ends another chapter thingy of prideful shenanigans. Jiren once again comes by to save the day, or to solve the problem of the day; either way, dude is quite savvy at solving things.**

 **This is just a situation with a** _ **fucking door**_ **…**

 **Anyways, I'm off it XD. Till next time :3**


	4. Why Would You Arm Wrestle With Me?

**In the earlier days of Jiren's recruitment, Toppo decides to spend some time just to get to know who this man is. That goal wasn't accomplished, so he opts for something more engaging...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Why Would You Arm Wrestle With Me?**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

"Jiren."

Toppo didn't even enter his own living room, where the other Pride Trooper was in. The leader had invited the new Trooper to his house because he wanted to talk to him about something.

To make a short story even shorter, Toppo did say what he had to say, barely any words came out of Jiren, and while Toppo left to make some grub, Jiren just sat there looking at nothing and everything at the same time because he's Jiren.

Toppo came back with an assortment of nacho-like chips coupled with his special, world famous, homemade dipping sauce that nobody else knew about but him and the other Pride Troopers. He placed the square red plate on the table, the dipping sauce in the middle of the carefully placed nacho chips, and then sat down beside Jiren. The Grey was as loud as a pin drop at the moment, his gaze was downcast and his hands were folded together resting between his knees. Toppo pursed his lips out of no kind of irritation, he took a chip and dipped it into his sauce before eating it and stealing glances at the silent dude beside him.

With all due honesty, Toppo seriously wonders what even goes through Jiren's mind. The Grey was probably the most peaceful person he's ever met and sometimes when Jiren isn't meditating, he looks like he's so deep in thought that even snapping fingers wouldn't bring him back. But at the same time, if you were to reach for something that belonged to him, he'd grab your wrist before you'd even execute the idea of snatching his belongings.

What belongings does Jiren even have?

Okay, obviously Toppo knew Jiren was just a meditative person but that question lingers every now and then, especially in situations where he's with someone else. He can't help it, the others can't help it either. He took a another chip from the plate and looked at Jiren. "You want one?"

Jiren didn't shake his head. "I don't feel like eating."

Was there ever a time where he did feel like eating? "Oh…" Toppo just ate the chip instead, the budding request he had in mind made him tap his fingers together. Even though it may be a ridiculous idea, he wanted to try this idea out with Jiren since he's never got the chance to. He's done this with the other males of the Pride Troopers and Cocotte, but not Jiren. But Toppo was debating on whether or not he should actually ask Jiren at this time, especially because the other would find this request to be a bit random-

"What is wrong?"

The leader blinked at how quickly Jiren picked up his agitation. "Huh?"

Jiren actually didn't need to look at him either, he just felt it. "You seem apprehensive."

"Oh." Toppo looked down at the floor. "Yes, umm… I request something of you."

Jiren shifted to sit up, the Grey was still wearing his Pride Trooper, little to Toppo's dismay. Maybe one day Toppo would get Jiren to at least wear something else, but he really admires that Jiren is always prepared to serve justice. He decided to get to the point. "I want you to arm wrestle with me."

At first, Jiren didn't seem to react with nothing short than a blink. And then he slightly frowned before looking at Toppo. "Arm wrestle?"

"Yes." Toppo nodded seriously. "So far, everyone has arm wrestled one another except for you and I'm… kind of interested in one with you."

Two more blinks. A frown. And then Jiren tilted his head slightly. "Why would you want to arm wrestle with me?"

"I just want to see something."

"What are you trying to see?"

"Just… something!" Toppo stood up and went to sit on the couch right across from Jiren. The Grey looked at him as he went across with a blank expression on his face, crossing his arms. When Toppo placed his elbow on the coffee table Jiren didn't make a move to do the same either.

He just gave Toppo the look that said _I don't want you to do this_.

"Jiren…" Toppo looked into the Grey's galaxy-esque eyes. "Don't worry about me. Allow me to do this with you."

"I can't."

It's rare, rather unheard of, to hear this heavyweight looking guy say that he can't do something. "What do you mean you can't?"

Jiren looked from Toppo's giant hand down to where his elbow was which rested on the coffee table. The Grey was saying this because Toppo's arm is way too long for Jiren to be able to properly arm wrestle him on something as small as his coffee table. Toppo didn't realize that until he looked at his arm, and then at Jiren's. "Oh, alright… Come with me."

They went into Toppo's kitchen and sat across from each on his large, durable countertop. His arm was more stretched out compared to Jiren's to accommodate for Jiren's arm of course. The both of them held hands and Toppo smiled underneath his beard. "Have you ever done something like this before?"

"No." Jiren said.

"Well, what you do is…" Toppo shifted to get into his winning position; yes this guy had a _winning position_ for arm wrestling, and he never loses once his game is on. "You have to push the other person's arm down until it hits the table and when that happens, you win." Toppo's grip on Jiren's hand tightened slightly. "Understand?"

Jiren just nodded.

Toppo flexed his shoulder muscles and stretched his neck a little. "Alright, get ready Jiren. Here we go." Toppo counted on slowly, this newcomer Trooper would not see his quick speed of strength coming, he decided to count much slower just to catch Jiren off guard. "On 'one': three… two…" Toppo paused longer before the last number with a growing smirk under his beard. Jiren didn't seem phased at all. "One-"

Toppo did not even get a chance to move his arm against Jiren's. He didn't even get a chance to register what even happened, but this is basically the run down of what occurred in less than a second.

Jiren's arm barely exacted any sort of force that would make Toppo react, and that's what made it scary because that meant that Jiren didn't even do any work against him. Not only just against him, but Toppo's hand landed on his countertop only to break it into many pieces, and the Pride Trooper leader was _flipped_ off of his seat with his legs flopping to the floor and his butt hitting its tiled surface. Toppo's hand was still grasping Jiren's, but it was in this really awkward angle, so much so that if he tried to get up at this moment he'd probably dislocate his arm.

Remember, all of this happened in _less than one second._

Jiren let go of Toppo's hand, looking at the broken countertop before him with a blink. Toppo was legitimately _confused_ at his own displacement for a couple of seconds, before he looked up to the person he just challenged seconds ago. Jiren was now standing with his arms by his sides, looking down as Toppo slowly looked up at him. Toppo and Jiren then looked at the countertop, which ain't even a countertop anymore, and Toppo frowned in pure awe.

Jiren lightly shrugged, the damage looked quite susceptible. "...I won."

The leader of the Pride Troopers gave Jiren a look momentarily, and then he quickly got up to look at his damn countertop _again_. Even though Toppo was quite wealthy, just seeing it broken sort of punched something in him. And Jiren's plain reaction wasn't meant to be dickheaded, but Toppo reacted way too quickly to realize that. "You just _destroyed_ my countertop!"

Jiren was so calm, but not in a negative way. Toppo found it hard to lash out at him. "You told me that I was supposed to make your hand hit the table, and I thought you were actually trying."

Toppo's face became comically shocked. _I_ _ **WAS**_ _ACTUALLY TRYING!_ "..." Toppo lowered his fingers, and then he sighed heavily. Judging from the way Jiren seemed to act, he highly doubted this man even owned a home. "You know what, it's… it's fine. I can buy another one. You win."

Jiren looked down at the countertop again and crossed his arms with a tiny nod, walking out of the kitchen unscathed. Toppo gazed at Jiren as he walked out of the kitchen, two things were certain with the leader; one, Jiren is _definitely_ being kept in the troop, and second...

 _I ought not to think of sparring with him. Ever._

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **The second the word arm wrestle was used, we all knew this would be a bad idea. And Toppo doesn't use ketchup, he uses sauce… RAW SAUCE. I'ma shush, kind of.**

 **This is why Jiren is so serious, he seriously can't do shit without breaking something (lol). He nearly broke Toppo's long ass arm for crying out loud and he wasn't even trying.**

 **When I say 'nothing and everything at the same time' I was alluding to the fact that Jiren was meditating. Except not in the usual way, he's just one of those people (like me) who end up meditating while doing daily activities. It's a thing, my guys.**


	5. Best Guy Friend

**To that one review asking about Dyspo and Cocotte, it's quite a coincidence that this chapter was already set up to come after the last lol. Every girl has a best guy friend, expect this chapter to be midkey random and shit. That's what deep friendships are for.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Best Guy Friend**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

If you walked into Dyspo's house on any regular day, you would be greeted by a beautifully large living room with light purple walls and polished white floors. The couch area was carpeted, the couches themselves were a very dark maroon color. There mounted an uber-flat screen TV, a fireplace on the adjacent wall, and shelves of many hangout things, like board games and assorted cards and whatnot. Random books, decor, or trophies and frames of pastime achievements also decked those shelves. Continuing on to your left would bring you to the kitchen, another periwinkle hue room that was exceptionally large. It looked like a dream kitchen of a chef; spacy, snazzily styled, the countertops were polished granite, his refrigerator and freezer were mounted into the wall, and his oven was both black and steel, not anything different from the oven he used to have a few weeks ago before it blew up.

...That's another story for later.

There was music playing, and Cocotte slid through the kitchen floor in a clean pair of socks while holding her hairbrush in one hand and the other swaying with her body as she sang along with the song. Dyspo runs in, hops on and slides right across the middle counter table and lands on both feet right next to Cocotte, just in time for the chorus.

 _IN STEREO…_

 _WE BOTH LET GO…_

 _INTO THE FLOW_

 _YOU AND I, WE RIDE THE AFTERGLOW_

The two were practically jumping with each other in their epic karaoke, Cocotte puts the brush in between the both of them as if they both singing together with one mic.

BENEATH THE DOME...

SO FAR FROM HOME...

IN MONOCHROME

 _YOU AND I, WE RIDE THE AFTERGLOW_

The song was about to end, so they pretty much were dancing together with Cocotte whipping her hair because she doesn't give a fuck, and Dyspo pulling out stupid dance moves because they're hilarious to see. Cocotte broke out into laughter as the song stopped, leaving the two with that sound and Dyspo joined her in the fit. She then made this weird ass noise that sounded like a wheeze and snort at the same time and Dyspo raspberried loudly.

"What the fuck was that?!" He was barely even able to say that sentence without cracking up even further. Cocotte at this point was hunched over doing that silent laugh, she almost couldn't even breathe. Dyspo fell to the floor not over the stupid dance he made, but over the sound that just erupted from Cocotte's throat. At this point, the two of them were dying on the ground with stupid smiles on their face.

Dyspo finally got up and let out a sigh while wiping his eyes. "Aww fuck, that was _comedy_ …" He looked down at Cocotte who was also coming back from her laughing fit, but her face was flushed red and he snorted. "You good?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She took a deep breath and a giggle escaped, but she was cooled down nonetheless. "What are we having for breakfast? Are we going to Shacks?"

Shacks is basically Netfiss' iHop but bigger and insanely liberal with their serving sizes. "Nah, I'll whip something up for the both of us." Dyspo stretched his arms as if he was going to put in work for this and Cocotte frowned.

"Dyspo, you can't cook."

"And who said that?" Dyspo gave Cocotte a look. "I'm not some dunce, there are things I can _finesse_."

His friend smirked. "Like a pie?" Dyspo frowned and closed his eyes, knowing that dreaded reference all too well. Again, that's a story for later.

"... I should have just kept that incident between me and Kunshi."

"You do realize the second you tell me something embarrassing, that's gonna be my fuel for whatever bullshit you try next, right?" Cocotte tilted her head. "Let me make us something."

Dyspo groaned. " _Ugh, fine._ What'cha got in mind?"

Cocotte paused. "I dunno like, pancakes and stuff."

"And stuff?"

"Scrambled eggs?"

" _And_ stuff?" Dyspo smirked, and Cocotte threw a mitten at him.

"Shush, BunnyBoy." She smiled. "And put some clothes on."

Dyspo looked down, and then back at Cocotte. "You're making it sound like I'm completely naked."

"Okay, just… put on a shirt though."

"And cover these beautiful muscles?" Dyspo was wearing a pair of comfortable grey sweats, and like the Pride Trooper he is, he striked a pose with his back turned so that Cocotte could get a peep of those glorious back muscles.

She scoffed. "I've seen better, DiDi."

Dyspo gave her a side-eye. "Yeah? On who?"

She couldn't hold in her giggle over the remark she just made up in her head. "Zoiray."

"Bitch, the fuck?" Dyspo completely turned around and gave her a straight face. "That guy doesn't even have a fucking neck."

Cocotte was pouring flour into a bowl and when she heard that, she just knelt down while holding the flour bag and laughing. Here's the thing about Zoiray and Dyspo; it's not that they hate each other. They really don't, it's just that every time they see each other, they can't help but either roast or argue with each other. Zoiray was cool with Cocotte and Kunshi (kind of), but he and Dyspo can walk past each other with middle fingers to one another's face.

"I kid, I kid." Cocotte stood back up and waved her hand. "Besides, most of the dudes in the Pride Troopers are already built and uhh…"

He already knew what was on her mind at that moment. "If you're trying to compare me to the likes of Jiren then of course I'd look like absolute shit in your eyes."

"Oh no, I wasn't… what's that supposed to mean?" Cocotte was still mixing all the pancake ingredients, but narrowed her eyes. "I don't even _look_ at Jiren like that."

"Alright." Dyspo crossed his arms and chilled back on his step stool. He smiled, but Cocotte threw a glare at him and he shrugged. "What? I said 'alright', geez…"

"Dick." She closed her eyes. "I know damn well that you're being sarcastic."

"Shouldn't that not matter if you don't look at Jiren 'like that'?" He put air quotes around the last two words, and instantly received an empty pancake flour box to the face, making him fall to the floor. He shook the box off his face. "I'm just saying!"

"It doesn't." She calmly said. " _Anyways…_ What were we talking about again? Oh yeah, muscles and shit right?" Cocotte raised the spatula and gestured as she turned on the stove. "You're not muscular, you're just slim fit or something."

"Doesn't mean I can't look good while posing." Now, he was right beside Cocotte, leaning against the table. "We're the only two members who pretty much are slim fit anyway, but you're-"

" _Slim thick_." They both said at the same time, and then Cocotte nodded. "Yup. Un-containable curves, my friend." Because of how comfortable she was around him, she didn't mind flaunting what she had (of course, keeping it PG-13 because Dyspo's a dude).

Dyspo snorted, watching the mix being poured onto the griddle. "I'm surprised you're still single, after that one guy-"

"Ugh, don't even bring him up." Cocotte rolled her eyes. "Dude was horrible, and he tried to cheat too."

"Wait wait, this is a side of a story I didn't get." Dyspo held his hands up. "He _cheated_ on you?"

"Yup."

"Why didn't you tell me this?!" He wasn't leaning anymore, he was gesticulating now. "I could've beat his ass!"

"That's the thing, you nut." She bopped his head with the end of her spatula before flipping the pancakes over to their golden brown side. "I don't wanna see you punch some dude at lightspeed or whatever."

Well, there is a future incident where Dyspo does punch a thief at lightspeed. We already know what happened.

"I'm not gonna punch him, bro." He placed a hand on her back. "I'm gonna teach him a short lesson not to fuck with my friend like that."

"How short."

" _Very."_ Dyspo smirked, and Cocotte giggled.

"I dunno, I guess I'm just too… dominant or something." Cocotte shrugged. She took out the readily made five pancakes and placed them on one plate for herself, and poured the second batch in. "I don't think there are many guys out there who can deal with that. To find one would be difficult."

There was silence for quite a moment while Cocotte was flipping the pancakes over. She realized so, and turned to see Dyspo glancing elsewhere with a weird look on his face. "Why are you making that face?"

"You don't have to look that far, you know." There was a brewing smile on his face, and Cocotte knew he had something snarky to say.

"And who could fulfill that role then?" The pancakes were completely finished. She placed the other five on another dish for Dyspo. "Stop smiling like that, geez."

Dyspo's face made it look like he was about to burst into laughter, but he barely got the name out before falling into a raid of snickers. Cocotte raised a brow. "What? Who?"

He said it again, not before taking a deep breath and holding his composure and going… "Jiren." And then he dashed right out of his own kitchen.

"Oh, you sack of shit-" The female Pride Trooper took a random spoon out of the cabinet and proceeded to run after Dyspo's dumbass for saying such a thing. "Ain't no way I'm ever gonna like _him_ , get over here!" She threw the spoon at pinpoint accuracy, hitting Dyspo's chest and making him fall backwards. She grabbed the nearest pillow, darted to sit on his abdomen and assaulted him with it.

"Why're you re-act-i-ng like this!?" Dyspo was being hit as he spoke, but he was still stupidly smiling.

"You're an idiot for thinking that!" After her little assault, Cocotte tossed the pillow at his face and smiled down at him, even though he couldn't see it. "Get up, so we can eat. I'm hungry."

Dyspo took a deep breath and moved the pillow from his face while _still_ playfully smiling like a jerk, and got up to head to the kitchen. His head was brewing with amusement; it's funny because Cocotte actually never does talk to Jiren, nor does she even look at him, but to see her react like this just proved him, Vuon, Tupper, Kahseral and Kunshi right.

 _Just wait 'till they find out..._

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **That song is Afterglow by Scandroid, because I can't get it out of my damn head, and I have a thing for retro Electro music. Can't help it.**

 **Damn, half the members already peeping the possibility of Cocotte having eyes for Jiren, even though this is quite early on for such a situation. Is Dyspo right, or is he not? Does Jiren just** _ **get it**_ **, or is a woman like Cocotte his limi-**

 **You know what, I'll shush on behalf of that. That's another story.**

 **Anywho, this chapter was tame and pretty chill and short, hope you liked it!**


	6. Toppo Can't Dance

**Toppo is up late at night, and he decides to do what most of us do what we're alone; jam to some random songs. There isn't much of a summary, because the title says it all at this point.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Toppo Can't Dance**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

The moon shined brightly, surrounded by the cloudless, deep dark purple sky that coated the planet. All of the main Pride Troopers were in one of the many private bases scattered all throughout the Universe, this particular one was in Cardia. The ten big dogs of the Pride Troopers do have separate private bases that they own, but the public ones outnumber such by tenfold. It was actually one of the substantially bigger bases with ten lofty rooms, a huge lounge area with pale green walls, coupled by a dining room which was divided with the kitchen that was more than equally as big. Even Dyspo's kitchen, which was the biggest out of everyone else's, wasn't more than three quarters of the size of this one, and the oven was bigger than Dyspo's new one that he bought recently after accidentally blowing up the older one.

But that's a whole other story.

While everyone else was asleep in whatever rooms they were in, the leader of the Pride Troopers was in the kitchen. He just placed a mug that he finished drinking out of into the automatic dish cleaner and walked back into the living room to turn the mounted TV off. Yes, Toppo was lowkey binge watching a favored series of his real late at night. It usually should be unlike him to stay up past like a few hours after dusk, but he's been picking up habits of a night owl ever since he had gotten to know more about Jiren over the years.

Well, you can thank him for that. The Grey manages to influence anyone he's with without even trying.

Even though it was late Toppo still had a lot of energy in him, he wouldn't mind going out for a jog at a time so ungodly late. But it was cold out and he'd rather not deal with getting a runny nose right now, so he decided to go upstairs and lay in his room and do… something, he didn't really have much of a plan. He was about to execute that line of thought right before noticing the music player sitting on one of the mounted light shelves to the wall. Now, since this base was also terrifically insulated, if he played the music at a level where anyone in the living room could hear it, those upstairs wouldn't hear even a _peep_ of music pierce through the halls. Not only that, but he was in a good mood, and what do people in a good mood do?

They fucking _dance._

Toppo pressed the button on the music player, instantly hearing this really catchy, bounce like song, and he started bopping his head to it. Within mere seconds, his body started grooving along with the beat, and finally he was just full out dancing to the upbeat music. He spun, his feet were moving with the beat, and he had his back turned to the stairs while hitting every move on key...

Except he wasn't.

An individual heard the faint sound of music playing downstairs, obviously the volume was low as everyone else was asleep. It didn't disturb his meditation because he had intuitively decided to stop, but it didn't intrigue him enough to go downstairs. The only reason why Jiren was even doing so was because he wanted to just stand outside and look at the sky, you know, like how usual badass dudes spend their free time.

And also because the sky looks beautiful to just stare at. To Jiren though, it isn't as beautiful as staring at a sun. That was one of his most guilty pleasures.

The music itself wasn't questionable, it got progressively louder as he went down the stairs, and once he was finally within view of the entire living room, Jiren paused for a _really_ long time at the sight before him.

Here he found Toppo. Not only did he find Toppo, but he found Toppo in full lime green and orange _striped goddamn_ pajamas, facing away from him with this bumpy music playing, doing… what the heck was he even doing? Toppo body looked so randomly stiff in certain places; he started trying to do this sort of shuffle that only Kunshi could finesse, he was swinging his arms and kicking his legs out in a way that made it look like he was going to topple over at any minute.

And then this one bouncy club-like song came on that happened to be his favorite (to be fair, it's the only clubby song Toppo really likes, his genre of music isn't in that spectrum). Toppo stopped momentarily and then started doing this thing where his back was rolling. The move was repeated, with a slight crouch to his legs and his hands on his knees, and a sudden popping back of his uhh… his butt. Or at least he tried to, but Toppo's _rear situation_ isn't nice enough to execute such a move correctly, so it instead looking like he was trying to pop his spine back.

Jiren blinked for a long time.

Toppo was in the middle of _hittin' Dem moves_ when he crossed his legs, and then swiftly turned right around in mid-dance to see a casually dressed Jiren leaning against the stairwell with his arms crossed.

The leader slowly re-righted himself, blinking a few times at the Grey who didn't even move; Jiren just gave Toppo his _Jiren face_ , and Toppo looked down at the ground and placed his hands on his hips before turning around and switching the music player off. There was long pause right after Toppo turned off the music, and the two just kind of...looked at each other albeit Toppo avoiding his friend's eyes.

Toppo's dancing may have been to the music but to Jiren, it looked like Toppo had a really bad back problem that he was violently trying to fix.

Toppo cleared his throat and scratched his neck awkwardly, straightening himself as a stupid way to recover from all that Jiren had witnessed. The Grey Trooper had a mainly blank expression on his face, but Toppo could see that there was a _lace_ of concern in his blank features.

"What are you trying to do?"

You know your dancing is horrible when someone asks what you're doing when you think you're obviously dancing. "Umm… I was uhh…" Toppo sighed, and then he changed the subject. "Why are you up so early?"

Jiren's brows furrowed. "I don't sleep." That's _obvious_ , but Toppo wanted him to actually answer it with something else because he'd rather not have Jiren ask him aga- "Is this your way of avoiding my question?"

Jiren knew damn well it was.

"Kind of." Toppo sheepishly chuckled, but he decided to answer Jiren. "I was dancing."

"To what?"

Did Jiren not hear the music he was playing or something? Toppo didn't have headphones in, otherwise this situation would've been twenty times worse. "To the music, what else?"

Jiren narrowed his eyes. "You weren't moving with the music."

The Grey Pride Trooper, as with his low maintenance lifestyle, is also honest to the point where he's _too_ honest. He basically just said Toppo's dancing was off key, and even if it was, that doesn't mean he should _say_ it out loud. Toppo raised his own brow. "But I was, I was dancing to it all this time." Silence. "I couldn't help but turn on some music because I got bored."

"At this time of night?"

"...Yes." Toppo pursed his lips together. Maybe he should have said that he had a really bad back problem, because everything in Jiren's placid face was saying _how am I friends with you_?

The Grey calmly looked elsewhere before walking into the kitchen. Toppo followed him in there, and swallowed the last bit of embarrassment he felt from having Jiren witness his God-tier dance moves, propping a hand against a nearby kitchen counter. "Why did you come down, though?"

"I want to go outside." Was his simple reply. "You can continue doing what you were doing before I came down here."

Toppo frowned. "I told you already, I was dancing!"

"That didn't look like dancing at all." Jiren turned around with a nonchalant face.

Toppo made a _hmmph_ sound before crossing his arms. "And what can you do to top it anyway? I'm pretty sure you can't dance, either."

"That's why I don't."

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Toppo was sort of bantering with him now, but he peeped a different sub-meaning in what Jiren said. "Are you trying to say that just because I can't dance, I shouldn't?"

"Do whatever you want." Jiren looked at the door. "It doesn't concern me."

How does one rebuttal to that? "Well of course but, don't tell anyone about what you just saw."

Jiren shrugged. "I have no reason to."

The base has security cameras, by the way, which captured everything that Toppo did and everything that Jiren saw. So anyone who actually goes into the security room could just waltz in, rewatch that the next day, and probably cackle about it all day, but let's pretend that Toppo doesn't know about that. The strongest Pride Trooper opened the door to step outside, leaving Toppo still standing there debating on whether or not he should go upstairs and attempt to sleep or do something else.

You know what? _Screw it_ , as Jiren said Toppo's insane dance moves don't concern him, he might as well continue doing it. Toppo shrugged the situation off, went back to the music player and turned it right the heck back on and started getting back into the groove. He was still in a good mood, and you know what people in a good mood do regardless of being caught by some stronger-than-dark-matter friend of theirs…

They. Fucking. _Dance._

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Why is writing about these two so interesting? Lol. Can you imagine what Toppo might look like trying to 'pop his backside'? If you didn't get that, he was technically trying to uhh… I hate using this freaking word…** _ **twerk**_ **(ugh). I'm seldom sorry for the images I presented to you guys.**

 **Cardia is a pun on Cardio or Cardiovascular since Netfiss seems to be a play on Fitness. Couldn't help it xD.**

 **The moral of the story here is, okay look; if you're in a good mood, and you wanna dance, and you** _ **can't**_ **dance, then** _ **go and goddamn dance**_ **! Ain't nobody gonna stop you and nobody can, dance your little heart out, kiddos. Don't look at the title, and how it contradicts this motivational sentence of mine. Don't look at it that way lol.**

 **Anyways, 'till next chapter! :3**


	7. The Pride Troopers Read Their Memes

**This week has been really busy; however, it's break time, my dudes. And everything has been set in stone to the point where I can spend nearly a week and a half chilling and coding. It's lit.**

 **There will be another chapter of Unfair Punishment tomorrow, that I can tell ya. So uhh, like Merry Christmas I guess? That'll go in that story, huehue.**

 **Warning: This chapter can get a little not PG-13 so be advised. There are roasts ahead also, but don't be advised for those.**

 **No other explanation is needed. You seen't the title already...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **The Pride Troopers Read Their Memes**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

Within the large base of the ten Pride Troopers residing in Netfiss, Dyspo was busy drying his ears with a towel while the other was wrapped around his waist, leaving a controversial portion of his V-line exposed. He sighed, and opened his eyes to see Cocotte just chilling on his bed. "What are you doing in my room? I thought you were asleep or something." She wasn't there before he started showering, at all.

Cocotte was looking at him. She blinked a few seconds later. "Hmm?"

Dyspo frowned. "The heck you mean 'hmm'? What are you looking at?"

Cocotte's brows furrowed, and she crossed her arms. "Nothing."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." She scoffed. "What'd you think I was looking at?"

Dyspo raised a brow. "Me."

Cocotte nearly guffawed. "Listen, just because you're shirtless right in front of me doesn't mean anything. I've seen _better_ bodies, anyway."

Dyspo smirked. "I never asked if it meant anything."

 _What a dick._ "Shut up."

"Make me."

"Seriously?" Cocotte shook her head before standing up. "You always gotta come up with the most sexual innuendos. Ugh."

"Who said it was sexual?" Dyspo raised both shoulders with his hands outstretched. "Besides, that was pretty tame compared to some of the shit _you_ say."

"I D-" Cocotte was about to rebuke his statement. Their friendship had evolved steadily but quickly; after they had gotten to know each other, most of their conversations were shit that only they knew. Either that, or the topics would just become hella sexual. "You know what, I can't even argue with that…"

" _Exactly_." Dyspo went over to a basket and tossed his ear-drying towel in it, back facing Cocotte. Without warning, and in a swift move, he held the other towel by his waist and just ripped it right off.

"DYSP- oh…" Cocotte blinked. "You're wearing boxers. Okay."

Dyspo frowned at her. "You really think I was gonna let you see my ass or something? We're close but not _that_ close."

"You don't just _casually_ take a towel off your waist like that while your woman friend is in the room." Cocotte glared at him.

"But does my woman friend give a shit?" Dyspo smirked at her, and Cocotte returned the smirk back.

She snorted. "No, she does not."

"Then this can be dismissed." He slipped into his favorite _formal_ attire; a pair of sweatpants and a sleeveless hoodie. "This new body wash I bought smells friggin' amazing."

"I can smell it from here." Cocotte giggled. "It smells like pineapple."

"You're not getting a full whiff of it, dude. It's pineapple and coconut, come here." Dyspo gestured for her to come along and did so before leaning forward to smell him. He was right, he did smell like a mix of pineapple and coconut.

"Yo Dysp- what the heck?" Vuon opened Dyspo's room door to see Cocotte slightly leaned over his shoulder sniffing him, and Dyspo was looking at her before he flicked his attention to Vuon.

"I smell like pineapple and coconuts." Was his simple explanation.

Vuon did a slow nod while frowning. "Yeah uhh… I bet you do."

"What is it?" Cocotte asked, she clearly straightened up seeing Vuon's facial expression which made her crack a smirk. He always had the best reaction face in the entire group. "Is it important?"

Vuon voiced his reason for coming into their room; that was an important reason, judging from the fact that he called everyone in this base currently to the lobby.

"We're looking at a bunch of memes."

"Oh shit, really?" Cocotte's eyes widened, before she proceeded to walk out of the room. "I'm going down."

"Don't mind if _I_ do." Dyspo skipped out of his room, followed by Vuon who smirked and took them downstairs into the lobby, where they heard the voices of Kunshi, Zoiray, Tupper, and Kettol. The other six were sitting amongst one another either laughing or making a comment.

Out of nowhere, Zoiray made a high-pitched noise that startled everyone in the room. He had his hand on the lower part of his face before waving it off. "I just sneezed."

Kunshi frowned. "How the heck did you sneeze, you have no nose."

There was a long pause. Zoiray gave him a straight face, and pointed at his lips, " _Mouth._ "

"So.." The bunny smiled between his brodie and _the other guy that wasn't his brodie_. "What's the buzz?" Dyspo crossed his arms.

"This…" Kunshi held up the tablet in his hand right before he read the next entry while straight facing. "Oh no…"

"Lemme see!" Zoiray hopped onto the couchrest behind Kunshi's shoulder. "Oh nooo, they put a polka dot lollipop as Kunshi's head!"

"That's foul." Kunshi frowned but still laughed either way. "They have jokes, they do."

"It's accurate, though." Kettol looked at Kunshi and shrugged at his glare.

"Oh yeah?" Kunshi pointed a finger at his head. "This is hereditary."

"From which side?"

"Both." Kunshi said. "My parents both have dots on their heads."

"Wait… so," Vuon sat down with the group, "What color were their dots? Like, when your species has children, do the colors of both their dots mix?"

Kunshi laughed. "Dude, my parents had the same color dots as me."

"Really?" Vuon said before nodding at the interesting information he just acquired.

"Lemme get that." Kettol took the tablet. He was sitting next to Kunshi, and he straightfaced at the image he scrolled down to; it was a picture of a show that the younger portion of the Pride Trooper gang grew up with called Swift Rangers. In that particular show, there were nine Rangers who came from different backgrounds and ideologies. They each had different colored suits that followed the ROYGBIV color spectrum, including the white and black Rangers, and were name after those colors. "You know what's really ironic?" Kettol smirked, everyone else crowded around to see the picture. "All of us personify at least one of these characters."

"That's true, holy shit…" Tupper thought about it for a moment. "I can see Dyspo as Red and Cocotte as Yellow. You both act like those two to a T, and Kettol is, Kunshi is Blue..."

"I'm Green." Kettol raised a hand. "Because Green is the fastest one there."

Kunshi smirked. "He's also the biggest douche."

Kettol shot a look at him. "Screw you, that's besides the point."

"Don't you have horrible cardio?" Dyspo furrowed a brow. "And besides, _I'm_ the fucking fastest here!"

"I mean, Red was the speedy one and Green had the stamina. But Red is hella cocky." Cocotte shot a look at Dyspo. "And guess what _you_ are."

Dyspo looked at her and raised his brows nonchalantly. "Humble as _heck_."

"Bullshit." Zoiray shook his head. "The humblest one is Black."

"You're definitely Violet, though." Tupper looked at Zoiray. "Violet is sassy."

"I'm not sassy!" And while Zoiray said that, he leaned forward with an inclination to his head. "Sometimes I'm bold, but I'm never _sassy_!"

"You _just_ proved his point." Kunshi snorted, and Zoiray just told him to _shush it_.

"Toppo has to be Black, and Kahseral's gotta be White." Vuon raised a finger. "I'm Orange; Orange is always chill."

Zoiray smiled at Vuon. "No, you're DinoMoo."

"Oh my _fuck_ , I'm not DinoMoo!" Vuon flailed his arms. "He's not even in SP!"

"You look _just_ like him, though."

"I do not!" Vuon frowned. "I don't have bushy eyebrows!"

DinoMoo is basically this blue tyrannosaurus Rex character from one of the older cartoons most of the Pride Troopers watched while growing up, or in college for the memes. Just imagine something akin to Barney, except he's not stuck on a playground with a bunch of children… and he has bushy eyebrows. And Vuon hates him, _a lot._

Tupper snickered. "I'm Indigo." Because Indigo is the Ranger who always has the best _worst_ jokes. "Wait, what about Jiren?"

"There's only nine Swift Rangers… I don't think Jiren even fits the mold of being one." Kunshi placed a finger on his chin. "He's like… nope, he can't be anyone. There is no one who fits him in personality."

"He's always an outlier." Cocotte shook her head. "Even in real life."

"If only he engaged with us more…" Kunshi flickered his gaze to Cocotte. "Some of us would have gotten a chance to get to know him."

"That's true." Dyspo automatically caught on with a smile. "Maybe he can make friends with _some_ of us."

Zoiray snickered. " _Ooh, ho, ho-_ "

"What are you all smirking about?" Cocotte frowned. "If this is because of me, then-"  
"We're not smirking, Cocotte." Tupper raised a arched brow. "We're smiling."

"You all are idiots." She shook her head.

" _Look_ , you don't have to keep it under wraps, man. We already know." Kettol raised his hands towards her, and she glared harshly at him.

"Know _what?!_ You all are acting like me and him did something."

"I mean…" Dyspo's dickheaded smile was back on his face, _again_. "That wouldn't be a problem for you, would it- OW!"

Cocotte smacked Dyspo upside the head before snatching the tablet from Kettol. " _Let's move on_." She clicked on some links here and there while Dyspo rubbed the top of his poor head.

"Well, geez." Kettol shook his head. "Sucks to be you, Dyspo."

Cocotte glared at him. "You want me to hit you too?!"

"N-nah, I'm good."

"Then shut up." She 'hmmphed' back down at the tablet before making a face. "Oh...Oh, this has gone oddly sexual, the heck…"

"Wait what?" Vuon looked down at the screen. He caught some words of the posts Cocotte was scrolling through and they were _not_ PG-13. "How the heck'd you end up there?"

"I dunno! I just- you know what…"

"Let's read them anyway." Zoiray shrugged. He leaned over Cocotte's arm and nearly raspberried a laugh. "Oh my god no… this is gold. Cocotte, hook it up to the holoscreen." The holoscreen is basically a television, but it's not some flat box, rather it is a holographic projection. Cocotte did so, and the guys and woman got to fully see what the boards were saying.

"'Toppo has big hands… you know what that means…'" Vuon accidentally read that one out loud and stuck his tongue out in disgust, his voice comically cracking in his next statement. " _Ewww, what the fuck?!"_

"' _Vuon can use that energy whip on me_ '." Zoiray read the post with an alluring voice, because he's an asshole. "Ain't that something? How do you feel about that, Vuon?"

" _You didn't have to read it like that._ " Vuon's scrunched up face made everyone laugh.

Some inhabitants from different galaxy systems and planets are familiar with the abilities that each of the Pride Troopers have, but that doesn't save them from possibly being meme'd or anything. For example...

"When Dyspo has sex, does he hear the other's muscles contract before they bust a nut- WHY ARE THEY BUSTING NUTS?" Dyspo looked at the screen in shock while Zoiray and Cocotte fell out their seats laughing. "I'M NOT FUCKING DUDES! I'M THE ONE WHO'S SUPPOSED TO BE BUSTING!"

Kettol blinked. "That's… that's actually credible."

Dyspo looked at him. "The heck you mean 'that's actually credible'?"

"I thought you were like…" Kettol articulated, "You know, _swung both ways._ "

Dyspo pinched the bridge of his nose and tilted his head back with a 'goddammit' chuckle. "Oh my god…"

"Dude, sometimes you have those questionable moments!" Kettol shrugged. "So I think like, maybe you like both men and women."

"The only person he acts questionable around is Cocotte." Vuon said. He was right, because Dyspo and Cocotte are both two peas in a pod, you wouldn't be surprised to catch Dyspo at his _leftest_ moments with her. That's what friends are for, anyways.

"Thing is, Dyspo's race goes ham during 'that season'." Zoiray closed his eyes. "You guys go from having four kids to _forty four."_

"And?" Dyspo narrowed his eyes at the horned Pride Trooper. "What does your species even do?"

"We don't have time for all that." Zoiray raised his chin up. "We just have like two and keep the shit simple."

"There is _always_ time for that, first of all." The bunny raised a hand before dropping it back to his lap. "How does your race even have sex? You all are built like tic-tacs."

Tupper was drinking a beverage before hearing that and nearly choked on the soda in his mouth. Kettol fell over clutching his sides, Vuon's laugh sounded like a spray bottle, and Kunshi and Cocotte snorted so loud it caught Dyspo off guard for a second. Zoiray's eyes turned into slits. "We have it _just like_ everyone else, dipshit."

"So it's basically…" Dyspo was already laughing as he articulated what he was about to say, "If you take two tic-tacs, and put them perpendicular to each other…"

"NOOO!" Kunshi bursted out looking at Dyspo, saying his trademark catchphrase. "THAT IS NOT _OKAY_!" But he was still laughing his ass off regardless. Everyone pretty much died at the imagery Dyspo presented, Vuon fell to the floor while nodding to Dyspo's hypothesis and Cocotte place a hand over her face while laughing as well.

Zoiray shook his head. "You guys are asses."

"It couldn't be helped." Dyspo gave the irritated Pride Trooper a shitty charming smile. " _Sorry_."

"Put that smile away."

"Would it be true, though?" Dyspo came back from his laughing fit. He was smirking.

"At least our race doesn't go from carrying to fucking in like _minutes._ " Zoiray propped his elbow against the armrest while resting his chin against his palm. "We actually take our _time_ , and don't slip one in for seconds. You guys got quite the leg strength, yet can't go on for more than a dozen minutes, and considering that ability of yours… " And then this asshole smirked. "No wonder why you're the fastest."

Tupper legit spat out his drink in a hearty laugh, and Vuon loudly went 'AHH' as he fell backwards laughing. Cocotte bursted after seeing the look on Dyspo's face, and Kunshi placed a hand on Dyspo's shoulder trying to speak to him but ended up laughing in the process. Kettol, on the other hand, wheezed and got up just to leave the room and loudly laugh in the kitchen area.

He came back wiping his eyes and looking at Dyspo only to laugh even more. "Oh my god, he looks like he just got blueballed."

Dyspo's right eye was twitching and he just sat there, mouth parted, and silent. Kunshi patted his best friend on the shoulder. "Damn, you didn't have to go that far, Zoiray."

"He would've been blueballed if he were getting it in for more than a couple minutes." Cocotte had to add on to what Kettol said, further fueling the laughing train even more. Dyspo shot a ' _you're supposed to be defending me'_ glare and she giggled. "I'm so sorry."

"How would _you_ know, Coco?" Dyspo placed both hands on his hips, and Kunshi held his hand over his mouth. " _How would you know?"_

Vuon got back up and shook his head with a smile on his face. "This is by far the most _compact_ razz I've seen all week."

Tupper wiped the tears from his eyes. "Oh man, alright listen you two, we know you're _just_ friends." He raised two hands. "Don't disclose your _friendship_ to the rest of us."

This made both Dyspo and Cocotte shoot glares at Tupper, and the bunny narrowed his eyes. "Don't make me do the flip, Tupper."

"Oh shit…" The 'stached Trooper raised his hands, knowing how painful the _flip_ can be. "Nevermind, I didn't say anything."

Dyspo crossed his arms. "That's what I thought."

"Lets' like… let's move on from this topic, geez. We didn't even look at any of the others for this to start." Kettol took the tablet and thought of another topic in order to alleviate the heat from the roasting he just witnessed. He typed up the very first thing that came to mind, and the others stopped their small chatting to look at the screen.

Zoiray raspberried. " _Really_ Kettol?" Zoiray smirked. "We're looking at Jiren facts now?"

 _In case if you haven't noticed_ , Jiren happens to be incomprehensibly strong. As the strongest hero of the Pride Troopers, and the strongest being of the universe, you could imagine he gets the same treatment as a legendary shiny would. And that multiplies by the simple fact that Jiren doesn't engage in anything that isn't a huge immediate threat. So, many of the criminals and evil-doers never actually seen Jiren.

He's basically Universe 11's Chuck Norris… except stronger and better and bug-eyed.

"Wow." Vuon blinked. "'When the phone was invented, the inventor already had six missed calls from Jiren'."

"'The sun doesn't rise until Jiren says 'Good morning''." Zoiray started laughing.

"'Jiren took a lie detector test,'" Kettol snickered at the post, "'The machine confessed everything'."

"'Jiren can pick potatoes from an orange tree and make the best pina colada you've ever tasted'. How the hell?" Tupper frowned and snorted.

The blue-horned Pride Trooper went back in. "'Jiren can build a snowman on the sun'."

"I love how none of these make any sense." Cocotte shook her head, giggling.

"'Jiren can do a wheelie on a unicycle'." Kettol furrowed one brow. "Aren't you _already_ doing a wheelie on a unicycle?"

"I don't even know, man." Tupper shrugged. "But Jiren can do it."

"Apparently, he can lick both his elbows at the same time too."

" _Uhhh,_ you see how big dude's arms are?" Vuon even physically articulated to show the extent of Jiren's gains. "How are they even gonna fit?"

"He's _Jiren_." Cocotte looked at him. "He'll find a way."

Kunshi shook his head. "Nah, rather a way will find Jiren."

Dyspo snorted at his best friend's statement, which didn't make any sense but let's just _pretend_ that it does. "'Jiren lost his virginity before he had sex-' what the hell? How?" Dyspo made a gesture to the screen.

Cocotte snorted before speaking freely. "He fucks them good with his eyes." Everybody paused to just slow turn to Cocotte while she giggled and shrugged.

"...You have the wildest imagination." Zoiray blinked.

Well, this conversation went back to being sexual again. "I'm just saying; imagine though-"

"Dude," Dyspo held Cocotte's shoulder, "I don't want to imagine him glaring at somebody and then having them wobble and come undone on the spot."

"You _see_ ," Tupper's hands clasped back onto his lap, "Our minds would've been better off if you hadn't described it like that."

"What would Jiren think of his own facts?" Vuon looked amongst the group. "Like, would he say anything?"

"He sees them, and then nods because they're true." Kettol snickered.

"Or he'll just look at all of us and them hand the tablet back and walk away." Zoiray said. "Like, with that usual look of disappointment."

"Probably because he'd be like ' _These are all easy activities_." Dyspo cracked up, putting emphasis on the word 'activity' as if these are what Jiren spends his free time doing. He even had the nerve to even make an impression of Jiren's smooth, deep voice. "Like ' _I once stretched diamond back into coal with two fingers'_."

"Two _neighboring_ fingers." Kunshi added, making everyone crack up.

"He just converts it to coal with his index and middle finger. _Gosh._ " Vuon leaned back while laughing.

"Look, if this man can do that, then every time he 'stubs his toe', the tables, chairs and walls explode."

"He just slaps someone, and they're wiped out of space-time continuum."

Zoiray snickered. "Jiren's the type of dude to use a night light just so the dark doesn't get scared."

They were giggling like idiots at the imagery, because some of these things _may or may not be_ true. Vuon came in. "Jiren's the type of dude to run over a truck."

Kunshi added on. "Jiren had a staring contest with the sun and won."

"Jiren's the type of dude to carry a plane as cargo." Cocotte raspberried a laugh at Dyspo's joke.

"Legend has it that nobody can kill Jiren," Tupper said, "So he found nobody and killed them."

"Jiren can divide by zero… thrice." Cocotte said.

"Jiren can travel back into the future." Kunshi quoted one that he had read sometime ago. "Now I want him to see some of these."

"I think he's in his room right now." Vuon said.

Jiren was actually coming down, only to leave the base and go into space for something. The Grey was aware of his name being mentioned, but that didn't stop him from passing by the lounge area where the other seven Pride Troopers were.

"Jiren, wait!" Kunshi raised a hand in his direction. Jiren turned to look at him. "I got a question for you."

He didn't say anything, but he accepted the question regardless.

"If you fought against yourself, who would win?" After Kunshi said that, everyone turned their attention to Jiren over that question. An unbelievably strong man against himself, how in the world would that turn out?

But Jiren answered the question like it was some quick maths. "Me."

"But if you win by defeating yourself, then you'd still lose." Dyspo said.

"Yeah because like," Zoiray raised a finger. "If you do win, is it you that wins or is it you that loses?"

"Wait, what?" Cocotte looked at Zoiray. "You made this very confusing."

"No like, if you beat yourself," Zoiray articulated, "You win but you still lose because you just made a victory on yourself."

"How are you supposed to lose if you win?" Kettol furrowed a brow. Now, at this point the other members were pretty much trying to figure out a logical meaning behind Jiren's simple answer.

Even the Grey blinked at the group as they all were discussing amongst each other like this was some theory video. "You all are overthinking it." Was all he said, calmly and quietly, yet it was enough to grab the attention of everyone in the room.

"You know what, just… Come read these." Kettol gestured for Jiren to come over so he can see his own amazing facts.

The Grey blinked. "Why?"

"Just come, they aren't that bad." Dyspo smiled at Jiren, but the Grey was already looking at the holoscreen in front of him and with every second that passed, the straight face he adorned got even straighter.

"Come on dude, just chill with us for three seconds, or more." Zoiray said, and Jiren closed his eyes. Judging from the pause he took, followed by him approaching the lounge chairs, he accepted the request. Kettol purposely moved over and handed him the tablet so that he could sit right beside Vuon while Jiren took his seat…

Said seat was right beside Cocotte to her left.

"Why did you move?" Dyspo frowned at him.

"Wanted Jiren to sit facing the screen." Kettol smirked, and Dyspo looked over to Cocotte who was side-eyeing him.

"So uhh, Jiren," Vuon was quick to break the tension, he raised a hand. "We were just randomly sifting through the Net and found a bunch of facts on you written by random people. I think you should check them out."

"Do they border around the question Kunshi had asked me?" Already, Jiren looked like he wanted to go and do something else, like meditate… or probably stare at a sun.

"Kind of…" A nervy smile crossed the dinosaur's face. "Just… just read them. They're quite insightful."

Jiren looked down at the tablet, quietly blinking at the posts that were in his face. He didn't even emote or anything, he just took the deepest sigh and blinked twice. Meanwhile, the other Pride Troopers were holding in their stupid fits of laughter, purposely saying a few just to see Jiren's reaction… or lack of reaction, thereof.

"Jiren once dug a hole to prank someone. It is now known as a black hole." Kunshi couldn't contain the Snickers and it came out sounding like some Grinch's cackle.

"You have ten Z, Jiren has ten Z…" Kettol looked at Jiren's face and was already cracking up. "Jiren has more money than you."

"Jiren can see your thoughts." Dyspo chimed in.

"Jiren can hear sign language." Tupper added.

Yup, we'll just call it the Jiren face from now on.

"Jiren can make fire by rubbing two ice cubes." Zoiray smirked.

A weird high pitched a came from Vuon, but that was just him holding his laughter. "The chairs stand up when Jiren enters the room."

"There was once a street named Jiren but they changed it because nobody crosses Jiren." Tupper leaned forward, cackling at the straight face Jiren had looking down and scrolling through all this bullshit. He stopped, and then looked up at _everybody_ with the straightest, most disappointed face that even he could muster.

"This is what you all stopped me for?"

Cocotte couldn't help but giggle, and the others did so as well. But Jiren ain't giggling at this shit. "...Yes…"

The Grey blinked for a long time before calmly placing the tablet onto the table, standing up and walking right out the room. At that point, everyone just bursted.

" _Oh come on_ , what could he _possibly_ do that's so important?" Vuon flailed.

"Meditate." Was pretty much the answer of Kettol, Zoiray, and Tupper at the same time.

"The guy literally doesn't do anything else other than that." Kunshi said.

"You know what I just realized?" Dyspo pointed out something quite… miraculous. That's the wrong word to use, the author knows this. "Jiren can keep his mouth closed for weeks, and then when he talks to you, dude's breath doesn't smell _at all._ "

Kettol did momentarily pause before he blinked. "Oh shit, that's actually true…"

"He meditates the bad breath away." Cocotte smirked.

"What if he can't get it in the first place?" Zoiray asked. "Like he's genetically immune to that shit, I dunno."

"How does he put on his suit?" Tupper randomly asked probably the most important question of the day. The suits are made of a special spandex meant to fit in any body type, but people like _Jiren_ who have continents for backs must have a hard time putting it on.

Zoiray supplanted Cocotte's earlier response. "He meditates it on."

"That's probably the solution to everything for him." Tupper shrugged.

A snort from Vuon. "It's like 'How does he workout?' Meditation. 'What's his sleep schedule?' He meditates. 'Does he eat'? He just meditates and gets full that way."

"How does he achieve that beautiful ass that Cocotte stares at all the time? He meditates it- OW, CAN YOU QUIT HITTING ME THERE?!" Again, Dyspo's poor head was abused by Cocotte's hand as she was now on top of him smacking him the heck down.

"I don't look at him like that, you i-di-ot!" She emphasized the last word with a hit every syllable.

Meanwhile, while Dyspo was suffering, Kunshi was just sitting there like Beyonce with JayZ and Solange. "You're not gonna help your Brodie out, Kunshi?"

Zoiray laughed, seeing Kunshi's complacent facial expression. "If I do, I'll lose my forehead."

"What forehead?"

"Fu-you know what, you wanna fight, Vuon?" Kunshi stood right up, and lassoed Vuon, pulling him towards him and he started rubbing Vuon's head with his knuckles. Everyone and their uncle knows that dinosaurs absolutely hate when you rub their head.

"KUNSH-ACK. MAN, QUIT THE RUB-FUCKERY, ASSHOLE!" Vuon was flailed right next to poor Dyspo who was trying to slide out of Cocotte's strong hold. "TUPPER!"

"Look, if you expect me to help," Tupper slowly shrugged. "Then uhh… I apologise."

"Wow, you guys are horrible friends." Zoiray shook his head. "Tsk, tsk."

Cocotte just finished her tiny rpage on Dyspo, who now looked more defeated from her hits than before. Vuon was slumped over with the stankest face he could possibly muster because stupid Kunshi was rubbing his head.

"All of this happened because what, Dyspo said that you look at Jiren's ass?" Kettol frowned. "So much vindication for something that isn't supposed to be true…"

"Kettol…" The woman slowly turned around with _that face_. Fellas, you know what that face is, it's the face of a woman that's about to rip your fingers off. "You're done for!"

She jumped up and went after him, and the rest of the guys shouted "RUN!" with Kettol jumping right out of his seat and being chased out of the room by a violence-furtive Cocotte. Zoiray watched the spectacle while snickering and this was where Kunshi narrowed his eyes and leaned towards him. " _Are you not gonna help your friend?"_

Zoiray waved his hand. "Screw that, this is gold." Tupper muttered something about him having no nose and being a hypocrite. Zoiray swerved his head at Tupper. "I heard that."

"With what?"

Zoiray's eye twitched at Tupper's comment, hinting at the face that his ears low-key don't exist. Well, they do… just barely. "Alright, fuck you." Zoiray launched himself at Tupper and Tupper juked out of his seat making Zoiray fall face first onto the cushioned seat. He then got up and went after Tupper with no hesitation, leaving the other three to blink at each other.

Amongst the other chaos going on behind them, and in the kitchen area, Vuon was back in his seat and Kunshi and Dyspo both had downcast glances as they hear the flurry of insults coming from the four of them. Slowly and almost shyly, Vuon took and slowly closed the the tablet in hand, and then nonchalantly turned to the two brodies. "You guys wanna play Ultra Smackdown?"

As if the other four weren't currently poundcaking each other, Kunshi and Dyspo shrugged and simultaneously spoke. "Sure, why not?"

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Wow, this was a shitshow. A great shitshow, 10/10. Whoof… Yes, some of those Jiren facts were derived from previous memes of that shit, I couldn't help myself xD.**

 **Okay, so you know what i love? I didn't even realize that I said that Toppo should be the** _ **Black**_ **Swift Ranger, which is quite funny because both Toppo and Black/Zamasu are strong supporters of justice, whether that be subjective or not. I just… had to point that out, just sayin'.**

 **Now I kinda wanna write a chapter where Jiren does his guilty pleasure. It would be beautiful… :)**


	8. Placid Incalescence

**For that one person who says Jiren should hang with them more… bihhh** _ **I can't control that**_ **. Jiren is one of those characters who just do what they do and they're not malleable. If I wanted to I would totally make this guy the life of the party but that's not how stuff's gonna work. Here's a Jiren fact for you on behalf of this;** _ **Jiren writes his own dialogue**_ **.**

 **I'm totally fucking with you on this particular comment you made, don't come at me. On to the story though.**

 **Everyone has a guilty pleasure...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Placid Incalescence**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

Two interconnected hands separated after resting together for so long. He slowly settled back down into the ground, the red ki emitting from his body dissipated and right when it completed vanished, Jiren opened his eyes. The Grey took a deep breath before slowly standing up, and automatically setting his eyes on the window of his room. He fully turned his Pride Trooper suit-clad body to face the view of the purple-green night sky of Cardia, and with the vigor of a soft breeze and the will of a mighty warrior, he closed his eyes; he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

He had an ideal activity, something to pass over whenever he wasn't immersing himself in the calming reaches of nothingness. He opened his eyes again, took one step forward, and phased right out of his room to float right in front of the outer wall of said window with his back turned to it. This particular base was several hundred feet in the air, the city lines glowed brightly under his feet, but that was not what he was looking forward to.

There is very little in his life that brings even the ruse of interest, deep thought, or pleasure at the moment. Despite being a person of little attachments, there is not one thing Jiren has _not_ done to positively pass time. In fact, he's done so much in his long life that anything possibly laid out before him in _this_ universe would be considerably bland and unfitting.

Fighting someone? There is no one within _seven_ gigaparsecs of his location that can fight him in this universe, at all. Nobody can even come close to matching him.

Explore the world? He's traversed this universe so many times that he could locate every star system and everything within said systems like he's Universal Google Maps.

Be a god? _Hmmph._ That's nothing new.

Start a family? He's been there, he's done that, and they've been gone for many years. A replacement for that would be unfitting.

There were no thoughts that went through his head as he cruised upwards, into the different atmospheres of Cardia and right out to see nothing more or less of space. This vast, dark field filled with galaxies, and planets of those galaxies, and moons of those planets no doubt resemble the same void that Jiren's meditation consists of. Space expands infinitely, and with time came the fruition and growth of beings, lifeforms in a giant void that Jiren can traverse through in mere seconds. This same void contained everything and nothing at the same time, space and time hold true measurement to existence and nonexistence concurrently.

This why Jiren meditates in the form he does. His fingers would be overlapped right on his palm to not only hold and allow the energy in him to circulate in his being, but it was a form of open acknowledge; pure awareness of everything and every being around him, whilst not obstructing such a state of being with thoughts.

 _Nonthinking_ ; that is the _Zazen_ form.

He flew out of the solar system Cardia resided in, black eyes wandered all around the slow-moving bodies of life and energy alike. He can feel the heat of every star he's passed by, his fingers moved as if grasping the small wisps of heat from any solar flares. He passed by a black hole, and stopped to stare into the event abyss not even being drawn forward by its magnificent gravitational pull.

Jiren's body is genetically adaptable to wormholes, his race has been known to live in some of them, or traverse through them. Him? He recently figured out that he can just meditate in one. It's calmly actually; no sound or light or drafts anywhere, it forces his mind to work on keeping his body in place and after a while, it starts to feel relaxing.

The author suggests that _you should try it too_.

Jiren flew far, far away from the Trooper's base in Cardia, the planet at this point wasn't even in his line of view nor was its start system, that wasn't a worry for him. At one point the thoughtless Grey cruised around the universe before slowly stopping when he spotted a certain sun, a red star that beamed bright enough to warm the other seventeen planets that revolved around it. Almost billions of light years away from the actual sun was the very first planet, and Netfiss was the fifteenth planet of this system, many times farther away than the distance of our Sun to Pluto.

If one were watching the man and the Sun, Jiren looked like a doe eyed child who was casually walking through the street only to slowly come to a stop while gazing at something interesting. He was drifting as he gazed at the red giant, it obviously dwarfed Jiren's stature and was bright enough to reflect upon his void-like eyes. He let his arms fall to his sides, eyes softening at the large energetic body in front of him.

Such a star was amongst some of the most symbolic; it was _giant_ , made the likes of Toppo look like a protozoa to a mountain. It's red flaring energy seemed to pulse wholly, there were flares that were millions of light years long that lasted mere seconds. The heat encompassed so much space, the nearby planet that was billions of light years away held higher surface temperatures than what would be considered habitable for _all_ plantlife. Jiren can feel the heat around his body, the heat wasn't unbearable, but it was intense.

The sun itself had a volatile nature that would leak out every once in a while, which was pretty common with most stars he's seen. Only he would first hand witness this on the days he decided to travel through space. Netfiss' sun would glow really bright for a moment, unleashing a much more incredible bout of heat and energy, all the while retaining its beautiful plasmatic form. The flares would stretch like tendrils before dissipating and fading away in the vacuum of time, the aftermath of these flares would caress the Grey's face and chest. The sun's heat would escape its dormant shell in a short amount of time, before waning into its peaceful and calm state.

It reminded him of himself.

It's moments like this, considering Jiren was actually a bit closer to the sun than usual, where the heat is most vigorating. Where it was bright enough to dimly illuminate the very last planet which barely sees a large stretch of light, and hot enough to grace the Grey's body with an intense bout of energy. It became so intense, that the softened gaze on his face became slightly constrained; his eyes began to water.

An arm raised to feel the signature of heat in front of him, fingers moved as if to pseudo-grab the wisp of flares just before his fingertips. He drifted a little bit more, fully aware of the way the heat felt against his body without the infringement of wind or air.

You might be asking, if Jiren's not so preoccupied with many other things that most people would do, then why would he just stare at suns to secretly pass his time? Suns are one of the very few universal things that change drastically as time passes; they warp, they stretch, they grow, or they explode, and then an immense light-pulling aftermath is made in their demise. And then afterwards, either they swallow everything up in their path, or become dwarfed in size and turn to neutron stars, only to disappear completely after a long period of time. He's seen such a phenomenon before.

And also because… something about that heat, something about that large keg of energy that these suns represent manage to capture his interest for a short amount of time. And for us, we're talking about _days_ on end.

This was a simple act of his, but it somehow yields much more to him than spending his time talking aimlessly with someone; and considering the people he was with _now_ , such an activity would be unfitting. And space, as long as time still exists, will continue to expand. As this happens there will be stars forming, and planets of those stars forming, with lives of different caliber slowly but surely taking place. That is one of the only things that time will guarantee naturally; cessation and succession.

His eyes never left the beautiful red star in front of him. As of now, in this particular stretch of his lifespan, nothing could compare to this.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **This is how you make a short and interesting chapter about some guy staring at a sun work. That is** _ **by far**_ **the most emotion that he could actually express. And besides, it's real funny when you think about** _ **normal**_ **guilty pleasures, like:**

 **Dyspo: I walk around my house in my pajamas all day.**

 **Toppo: I tend to spend all day watching one whole TV series... and then some.**

 **Kettol: I eat cereal for dinner.**

 **And then you get Jiren: ...I like to stare for days on end** _ **at suns**_ **.**

 **I dunno, I always thought that despite Jiren being super quiet, he would have such an appreciation and acceptance of the world around him and the events that take place now, then and later. And due to this, I always figured he'd be** _ **really**_ **old (I may be stretching his age a little bit way too much hypothetically). Ohhh another edit; the Stove man has a thing for heat. You notice how Jiren can only find something that resembles what his power is in a giant Sun? That is crazy, but also kinda sucks because it just shows that dude can't have any other reasonable comparison…**

 **How thoughtful. I'll see yas in the next chapter, which might involve a certain incident that has to do with Dyspo. Huehue.**


	9. I Fucked Up

**I love how nobody pinpointed that little part I put in the last chapter** _ **implying**_ **that Jiren had a family and was a dad at one point. Love it...**

 **That last comment wasn't taken seriously. I just like teasing lol. I really wish this chapter didn't turn out the way it was, because any kitchen appliance that's broken would hurt me in an unhealthy place :(. Anyone who cooks a lot knows the feel.**

 **RIP Dyspo's oven...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

… **I Fucked Up**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

You recall the mentioning of how Dyspo's oven exploded one day?

Well, this is about that day. This is what took place…

Every one of the Pride Troopers were surprisingly free at the same time. Toppo, Tupper, and Kahseral went to the main pub bar in Netfiss while the other Pride Troopers had activities of their own; Cocotte was shopping with a few of her close friends, Vuon was at Zoiray's house playing video games, and Kettol started another solo movie night just for himself. Jiren, as usual, was meditating, but not in a planet or just in regular space this time; he was in a black hole.

Do not ask how he ended up there. The author doesn't even know how he ended up there.

And then there was Dyspo; he was sitting in his house all alone spending his free time watching a bunch of cooking shows and marveling over the amazing showcase of yummies, yet yearning for them and not getting up to go buy them because he's lazy. This show was mostly in the avenue of pastries, things of that nature, and by default almost everybody loves desserts and pastries. Dyspo was definitely not exempt from that spectrum, there is not one thing that he _can't_ eat. At one point he was getting into it and started leaning forward like this was a close match in FIFA.

Now, the male bunny was laying on his side with his palm propped on his cheek, the other hand was chilling just above his stomach. Even though he ate an hour ago, watching this one cat lady talk about and make this amazing pie was making his stomach growl again. His race is weird, they have this unshakable appetite once they decide to up and eat, but can go years without eating any food; hell, they could sleep for many millennia, wake up not feeling completely emaciated and go about their day while munching on random dishes every once in awhile.

The author can assure you that that wasn't a reference. Such a statement, however, is false.

The cat baker woman was hot too, that normally makes the entire show like thirty times better. But when it comes to Dyspo, you put food near any attractive woman and his eyes and mouth will go _right to the edible stuff_. In his eyes any woman is automatically a godsend if they can make amazing food, exempt Cocotte from that spectrum even though she's a bomb ass cook.

Well, they did try to date at one point and it… should that be a story for later?

Yup, that's a whole other story.

"That looks… insane." Dyspo blinked in wonderment; the pie was a cherrywood pie (no, not actual wood my guys; cherrywood in U11 have saplings that make great pastries, and such a pie is delicious). It was all steamy and fresh and crisp and… Dyspo bit his bottom lip a little bit because his mouth was watering a little too much. He wanted that, he absolutely _yearned_ for that pie now. It was just on the other end of the TV screen speaking to him, beckoning him to _taste_ and _enjoy_ it's flavors. He was absolutely bored in his house, with nothing to do and no pie to eat-

 _Wait a minute…_

A light bulb went off in his head. Dyspo jumped up quick as hell and went to get the pen and notepad on one of his shelves. He rushed back and plopped right down to wait for all those ingredients to pop up so that he can jot them down, and when they did he excitedly wrote down all the measurements that he could see.

So instead of him just sitting here, mouth watering over the beautiful pastries that could be in his mouth, the lightbulb in his head would rather he spend his day taking a recipe from this particular show and cooking it for himself, since he's too lazy to go to some nearby store and just buy a ready-made, tasty ass cherrywood pie.

That makes sense, right?

Dyspo skipped his way into the kitchen and plopped the recipe list onto the counter. Luckily enough, he had everything he needed to make this pastry; flour, water, cinnamon, extracts, sugar, cherrywood sap flavorings, everything was just sitting in his cabinets. But why does he even have spices, flour and things if he's on the lazy spectrum of things, you may ask?

In Dyspo's own words, he'd tell you that it's ' _for the aesthetic_ '.

He took out all the utensils, which he even had enough of that too, and snatched the list from the table only to realize…

"...How the fuck do I make this?"

Ohhh, it wasn't mentioned that Dyspo can't bake, was it?

Dyspo didn't even look over the dang instructions, he just wrote down the numbers to everything and left it at that. _And_ that particular episode had just finished, Dyspo was not about to rewind the whole thing because that would require him to leave his spot in the kitchen. From _here_ , to his couch is a long distance, so he whipped out his new watch with Net connection and just searched 'Basic Pie Procedure'. In his head, he figured since it's a pie, every pie is made that same way; isn't that how things go?

"Okay...so a third of this…" Dyspo measured out the sugar (yes, he has measuring cups. Dyspo _stay_ prepared). Since pie crust is not that hard to make, he finished that with ease. Now, he was working on the filling. "Half a thing of this, and this, and… fifteen of this… now, I mix it all up…"

As he mixed the filling Dyspo started to smell this sweet aroma from the bowl itself. He took more than a moment to stop and sniff the heck out of the air, already growing impatient. About three or four minutes passed until he decided to actually stop mixing the filling, and he placed it inside of the pie pan with the crust already set there. He covered the pie with its top which had tiny marks that puff up once the pie is ready, making it look appetizing of course. Dyspo was about to place the little beauty into the oven but… it wasn't even on.

This idiot forgot to preheat the oven before settling down to make this pie. He figured that since it would heat up anyway, he'll just turn it on and put the pie in there as it's preheating. That's not a big deal, it might take a bit longer to fully bake, but it wouldn't hurt anybody. The pie he made didn't even look all that bad; in fact, thanks to his prior artistic skills it resembled the same one that the feline baker brandished on her show.

All of this is going so well… isn't it?

Dyspo place the pie into the oven and then closed it, setting the temperature to 350 which is the right temperature for a usual pie. The bunny Pride Trooper clasped his hands, now all he had to do was wait about half an hour; he left a timer on his phone for said amount of time before dashing upstairs with it to take a nice, quick shower.

Everyone and their uncle knows that a _quick_ shower is almost never feasible when you're this chilled. So let's just say it took just about enough time as Dyspo needed to wait for the pie.

He did his whole scrub-a-dub thing, using an orange scented body wash that was soft on his skin and around his ears before spending the rest of that time thinking about random shit. Right when he stepped out, the timer on his phone went off.

"It's all done." Dyspo smiled, proud of himself for using his free time wisely. He lived alone, he might as well wrap just a towel around his waist and skip downstairs just to pull out his edible beauty and that's just what he did. Dyspo zipped down the stairs, swag-walked his way into the kitchen, did this little spin turn-around (he's feeling extra right now), and then faced the window of the oven with a smile.

...He didn't see the pie in there. At all. He couldn't even see the pan it was in as it was supposed to bake.

The only thing he saw accumulating in his oven was this thick yellow, almost sponge-like thing that has taken over the entire top and bottom halves in the actual oven. What the oven window showed didn't even make the tray holding the pan inside the oven visible.

Dyspo blinked so many times and accidentally dropped the only towel on his person at the sheer shock of whatever the fuck happened in the matter of _half an hour_. He did not expect this, at all.

"How in the…?" The Pride Trooper approached the oven and then stepped back because he realized the oven itself was… trembling. It was fucking _trembling_ , for crying out loud. He swallowed every bit of courage before approaching again and holding the shaky handle of the oven to open it. Dyspo pulled just enough to crack it open, and almost instantly smelled the insanely strong scent of cherrywood, and sugar. Not only that, the batter was heavily condensed to the point where when Dyspo opened it, some of it shot out and hit Dyspo in the face, forcing him to quickly close the oven.

This isn't good.

What was he supposed to do? How could he rectify a situation like this? At this point Dyspo backed away from his own oven and looked at his TV, then at the automatic fire extinguisher, and then at the oven. He then blinked in realization, going back to the oven and turning it off before any para-baking activity were to occur.

Well, that didn't solve shit. The only thing it did was ensure that the furnace wouldn't explode while Dyspo was trying to pull this thing open. He can't even _open_ it without causing a mess, the ceiling right above the oven could attest to that.

The bunny Pride Trooper could not clean the impending bout to mess alone, he needed someone to help him at least. He looked over at his phone, he needed another body here ASAP, and of _all_ the people that Dyspo could possibly contact, he decided to go with this one person because they were the only ones who weren't _that_ busy and… perhaps he had an ideal solution to this problem? He tapped their face on his phone, before waiting for the sound of his brodie's voice on the other end.

"...Hello?"

"Kunshi, good evening." Dyspo had this chuckle that sounded like an 'I'm in dire trouble' chuckle, and Kunshi quickly picked that up.

"Dypso, what's wrong?" Kunshi asked, concerned. "Is there someone you're having trouble with? You need me for something?"

"Kind of." Dyspo was pacing back and forth in his living room. "Come to my house." There was a short pause before Kunshi spoke again.

"...What?" The other Pride Trooper blinked multiple times looking down at his watch. "Why?"

"Just…Just come to my house." Dyspo scratched the back of his ear, pacing a bit faster. "I need help for something, like right now."

"..." Kunshi smirked. "So is it an emergency?"

Dyspo can hear this man's smirk, perhaps literally. The bunny started getting frantic because his own oven was literally turning into an unstable Twinkie. "Kunshi, I really need your help here, I have no time for your jokes, just come here as quick as you can."

"Okay, okay, I'm on my way." Kunshi ended the call, and Dyspo slowly looked back at his own. The only thing you could see in there was the golden brown tint of what should have been a pie, except it now engulfed the inside of the oven completely. The actual oven door was moving too, and the bunny cautiously approached it because it wouldn't stop.

Dyspo didn't want to open it because he was afraid of a giant breath of fire possibly scorching his face off, and also because the oven looked like even the touch of his finger would make the thing implode and explode at the same time. But if he wanted to somehow rectify what was going on, he needed to actually open the oven. He may not be a person who cooks, but he really hates a dirty kitchen.

And that's what his kitchen is going to become, just multiply the value of 'dirty' by a thousand and three.

Dyspo's hand reached out towards the handle while slowly moving his face backwards and getting into crouching stance just so in case if he needed to jump back from whatever the oven had in store for him. His hand grasped the handle and he pulled as hard as he could, but the door wouldn't budge.

 _Ohhh fuck._

You know it's bad when you can't even open your own oven door to get your pie out. This whole situation is all types of left.

Dyspo tried again, and the door was still being difficult. At this point his whole directive was solely on getting this oven to open up for him, so now he was pulling backwards and straining real hard while doing so, at first he was convinced that the door had shot open because Dyspo fell back so far, that he rolled on his back twice. He opened his eyes and realized that through all that effort and gripe, all he did was rip the handle of the oven off. Not only that, but the oven was violently shaking.

This is probably the worst way to both possibly get badly injured, and certainly lose your home; a volatile fiery pie batter exploding in your kitchen and burning your whole suite down.

Dyspo got up again, at this point the shaking had got really violent, and the pie inside was starting to get dangerously condensed. Because of its sticky nature, the door wasn't opening, and the pie had a more endless spongy texture to it. Dyspo approached the oven again, grabbing two mittens and holding both ends of the oven door while pulling as hard as he can. His feet were dragging against the floor, his face was upwards as he strained heavily, and for a moment he heard a tiny click. The second he seized his pulling, the oven door shot open and all of the spongy cake batter charged at Dyspo faster than he could dodge it, the condensed matter filled the kitchen floor and the lower sides of the cabinets and countertops, leaving the oven door completely open…

And Dyspo was lost in his own spongy pie.

Kunshi's hover car had completely closed windows, all of which insulated the snazzy electronic swing song playing through his AUX cord. The Pride Trooper was an amazing sitting dancer, so he was bopping hard to the beat while keeping one hand on the glowy steering wheel. He left the mega-highway through an exit lane, he was several minutes away from Dyspo's house.

He assumed that Dyspo was calling him urgently because the guy was bored and needed his awesome friend to liven up his time at home. From what his notifications told him, Dyspo was the only one who wasn't particularly busy at all, and since Kunshi had offered to drop Cocotte off at a roller skate park with her friends earlier, he had some time to go and see what Dyspo had in store for him.

Kunshi wasn't even wearing suitable clothes either. He literally left his house in fluffy sleeping slippers and pajamas. It's his best friend, who gives a shit?

He stopped right in front of Dyspo's home. The lights were on in his living room, he was certain Dyspo was waiting for him right by the door. Stepping out of his car, he pulled his door down for it close and proceeded to the front door. Kunshi decided to showcase proper etiquette by ringing the doorbell this time and waiting. You would think that one ring to someone's bell would make them come through and open the door in less than thirty seconds, give or take, but Kunshi spent a whole minute waiting outside.

So he did what most best friends do when they are invited to their Brodie's house; he pulled out his card key and slid it through the receiver, and since his key was recognizable the door opened automatically.

Kunshi didn't even take a step in when his nose was Falcon Punched by the overwhelming scent of cherrywood and sugar. It's not a _bad_ aroma, to be fair, but too much of it is beyond overwhelming. Kunshi frowned, scrunching his nose up and cocking his neck back. "Dyspo?"

He barely heard a tiny muffled voice in the kitchen. It sounded like a defeated rabbit. He took a step forward. "Are you in the kitchen?"

Another muffled sound came from that very direction, so that's a yes. From where Kunshi was standing, you can't exactly see the majority of the kitchen right when you enter the house. You gotta take a few steps behind Dyspo's couch in order to get a glimpse of his kitchen. Kunshi leaned sideways a little while going towards where the divided kitchen was and-

Kunshi was _legitimately_ about to ask Dyspo if he re-painted his upper walls before getting a full view of the atrocity before him; the _whole_ kitchen floor was covered with a sponge like batter, there was a giant yellow mess we're the oven was supposed to be. There was another mound of this batter stuff a few feet away from the wall right across from the oven. Dyspo's phone was _hanging_ on the ceiling, barely tethered to the sticky spongy pie aftermath, there was a bathroom towel plastered on the wall, and Dyspo was nowhere to be seen.

Kunshi blinked several times; this was _way_ too much to register at once. "What _in the fuck_ … _happened?!"_

His exclamation made the giant batter mound move a little and with how ridiculous this situation already is, Kunshi almost thought that it was _living_. It was, sort of, but only because Dyspo was… trapped in it.

A leg sprouted out from the large mound, making Kunshi jump and yell 'Oh shit!'. The leg was followed by a purple toned hand and then an entire arm that went back into the mound to pull out a face. When it became apparent that someone was underneath the batter, Dyspo's face popped right out and he was breathing deeply while stretching all his limbs (save for his torso and lower regions). He opened his eyes widely and then looked around, or at least tried to because his neck was buried, and he noticed Kunshi standing just at the entrance of the kitchen.

Dyspo gave him this weird look with that nervous chuckle he tends to have. "Heh-heyyyy…"

Like a best friend would, instead of asking if Dyspo was okay, Kunshi gesticulated slightly. "WHAT… DID YOU JUST GET YOURSELF INTO?!"

Dyspo answered as truly as he possibly can. "I-I DUNNO!"

"What is all of this?!"

Dyspo braced himself for the ridiculousness of his own response. "...It's a pie, okay?!"

Kunshi looked even more confused, _how the turtleneck collared striped sweater heck could this giant mountain thingy be a pie_? At this point, the two friends were yelling at each other. Kunshi reached out to touch the mound before retaliating. "WHY IS IT SPONGY?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"THE HECK KIND OF INGREDIENTS DID YOU USE?"

"Uhh…" Dyspo looked like he was getting anxious… well he should be, he's kind of stuck in a blob right now. "Flour, water, cinnamon, stuff like that… and cherrywood flavorings."

"Cherrywood flavoring?"

"Yeah." Dyspo looked downwards.

Kunshi did a careful eye blink. "...How much… did you use?"

Dyspo wiggled his head completely out paused for a moment to wiggle his other arm free to scratch his head. "Uhh… I think umm…" If only he could salvage the damn _recipe list… "_ I think like… fifteen and a half spoons of cherrywood stuff… What?"

Dyspo noticed the look on Kunshi's face, he blinked at his bunny Brodie for like three times before reacting. "YOU _WHAT_?!"

Dyspo frowned. "What's the problem with that?"

Here's the thing about cherrywood; as a versatile cooking agent, it can be used as an _multiplicative_ amplifier for taste. However, you don't need to put so much of it because of how extremely potent it is. It is also responsible for the fluffiness of cakes and pies, but only half a teaspoon or even less is required for even a big batch of these things. If there is even half a teaspoon too much, the batter would be super duper fluffy and very rich in flavor.

 _This man in front of Kunshi put fifteen spoons of that stuff into one damn pie._

"YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO PUT THAT MUCH!"

"Wait really?" Dyspo blinked. "It legit said _fifteen_ spoons of cherrywood flavoring."

"Cherrywood tends to thicken up really quickly when not put under constant temperature. That's why your pie turned into _this_!" Kunshi articulated at the blob Dyspo was in, and the kitchen.

"But that's what it said!"

Kunshi scoffed in annoyance. "Where'd you get the recipe for this? What recipe even calls for more than 1 small spoon of cherrywood?"

Dyspo looked dead into Kunshi's eyes. "I wrote it down. I got _everything_ from this TV show I was watching, this one baker woman person made a pie and I got hungry." He shifted a little underneath the mound. "Kunshi?"

"Yeah, what?" His blue friend blinked.

Dyspo pursed his lips slightly, before speaking with a quiet voice. "I need you to do something for me… other than help me clean this up."

" _You_ called _me_ to help you clean _this_ up?!" Kunshi straight-faced. "I was watching reruns before you called me."

"Just… can you get me a shirt and pants upstairs?"

Kunshi furrowed a brow. "Why?"

Dyspo looked down at the mound he's still in, only his legs, arms and face were exposed to Kunshi's view. "...I'm naked."

You see, we know that Dyspo only took a shower before going back down to check on his pie. But to Kunshi, it just sounded like this guy seriously spent his day naked and that's unheard of for Dyspo. The most Dyspo would do is waltz around in boxers, he would _never_ chill around his own abode naked.

Unless if he still had his girl around then uhh… that's an exception.

There was a pause, Kunshi looked down at the ground and then he gave Dyspo that look of disappointment. His best friend blinks two times, before looking downcast and sighing with a head shake, which made Dyspo animated. "I'm in my _house_ , dammit!" He made a noise of discomfort. "And this thing feels weird."

That was also another reason why Kunshi had the expression he adorned; why couldn't Dyspo just try harder to get himself out of that spongy batter mess _before_ he entered his house? Well because unknown to him, this mess happened a few minutes before Kunshi knocked on the door.

"Fine I'll… get a shirt and stuff for you." Kunshi went upstairs to brandish the closest shirt and pants he could get which were the same ones that Dyspo had wore before he went to take a shower. He came back downstairs and Dyspo wasn't in the mound anymore, but he exited the kitchen fully with the towel that was once on the wall in hand, holding it in front of his waist and walking sideways.

"T-thanks…" Dyspo gave Kunshi a weird look, you know; the same look your friend gives you when they do something real stupid and they _know_ your facepalming so hard inwardly. The towel had the sticky stuff went just above the stairs where Kunshi couldn't see him, and he quickly changed and came back down while scratching the back of his head. He approached Kunshi with a smile.

"So umm… how was your day?"

You ever wanted to punch your best friend in the face for doing shit like knowing that they fucked up and they play it off like they didn't? Dyspo's only doing that because he's nervous, so the most he'll get is an annoyed flick to the forehead.

Kunshi straight-faced. "I _was_ doing fine, until I came here just to help you with this whole mess." Dyspo smiled timidly, and kunshi shook his head. "Why can't you just call the maintenance men and make them clean this? You'll have to pay them but it's better than the both of us."

"Oh _yeahhh_ , you're right." Dyspo looked away for a moment. Sure, he had more than enough money to get people to take this whole thing out, part of that comes from collateral rewards of being a hero (no, the heroes in U11 do not work for money. It's like a gift type thing for them). He actually did take Kunshi's words into consideration, he went to his phone…

The rabbit frowned. "What the fuck, how is it on the ceiling?"

Kunshi shrugged. "Ask yourself that question."

"Shush." Dyspo looked up at it and crouched real low before jumping up to grab it with his fingers. He's a rabbit, you really this man don't got _bunnies_? He wiped his screen and removed the spongy batter from the top of it and dialed the number for the maintenance crew.

"Hello… yes, this is Dyspo… my house… yup… oh, what happened?" Dyspo looked back at the kitchen because the man was asking why he needed them at his house. "There was a chemical leak at my house and it spread around my kitchen, and it's all spongy and stuff."

" _Bullshit_." Kunshi said that loud enough for the other end to hear, and Dyspo fast-walked to his couch to throw a pillow at him.

But he continued talking to the maintenance guy. "Don't listen to Kunshi, he's being stupid again."

" _I'm_ being stupid?"

" _Yes_ , now lemme talk in _peace_!" Dyspo raised a finger to his own mouth to tell Kunshi to shut the fuck up. "Yeah… okay, forty minutes? Alright… that's no, problem, it's not spreading everywhere; it stopped like several minutes ago… right, thank you. Good night." With that he ended the call before looking back at Kunshi. "You need to _not_ backseat chat while I'm on the phone."

"I was only trying to tell the truth." Kunshi crossed his arms. "How are you supposed to explain the smell of cherrywood flooding through the dang house?"

"It's not _that_ bad of a smell, Kunshi." Dyspo turned around. "Besides, maybe there is a chemical that… that uhh, smells like… cherrywood. They won't notice it by that time."

"Good ev- oh my _gosh_ , why does it smell like so much cherrywood?"

The maintenance men arrived forty minutes after Dyspo's exchange with them, and that was the _first_ thing they asked. To them, it was so intense they had to do what Kunshi did and cock their necks back from the overwhelming scent.

"Umm, heyyy guys." Dyspo waved before allowing them in. "The chemical smells like cherrywood apparently."

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Kunshi was initially leaning against the wall. "You guys, Dyspo tried to make a pie and-"

Dyspo shot a look at him. "There was a _chemical leak_ -"

Kunshi gestured, ignoring Dyspo's face. "That whole mess in the kitchen was a _pie_."

The maintenance men were already looking over the collateral before they slowly turned to Kunshi after what he had revealed. The main guy in the front blinked, looked at the kitchen, looked at Kunshi, then back at the kitchen, and then looked at him while pointing at the mess. " _This_ was a pie?!"

They looked at Dyspo. The rabbit chuckled. "...yes…"

This… was ridiculous. One of the men raised a brow. "How many pies were you making?"

"...One."

Kunshi could die of pure laughter at the dumbfounded looks on these guys faces.

"... _How?!"_

"He put fifteen spoons of cherrywood flavoring and uhh…" Kunshi nodded while gesturing to the conclusion of his explanation. "Yeah."

"Why would you put fifteen spoons of that stuff?"

"I _wrote it down_! It said _fifteen_ spoons!"

The maintenance guys frowned. Apparently, this cherrywood thing happened to be common knowledge. "Where did you get this recipe from?"

That's the _same friggity thing Kunshi asked_. And Kunshi answered for him. "He wrote it and probably misread it somewhere, like a genius."

"If I had the paper, I would show you all that it said fifteen spoons."

"Is this the paper right here?"

One of the guys stepped out of the kitchen with a piece of paper that had the spongy stuff on it. He swept off the batter before looking at it and handing it Dyspo. The rabbit jubilantly took the paper and looked at it, just to prove to everyone that… he actually did read it wrong.

" _Ohhhh…_ " He put a hand on his head. "It says _one and a half,_ I put 1.5 and I… mistook it as… fifteen."

"Like I said." Kunshi smirked. "Genius."

"Don't act like this never happen to you!"

"You mean by _this_?" Kunshi pointed at the kitchen. The maintenance guys already got to work, despite lowkey smiling to themselves at the exchange of the two friends.

Dyspo had his mouth open to speak for a moment, but then he backtracked. "N-not _this_ but like you look, misreading something?"

" _That's besides the point._ " Kunshi shook his head; he can swear up and down that he's not dyslexic (he really isn't), but he tends to misread things often. There are many times where Dyspo would cackle at the fact that Kunshi mistook one word for another.

"It's not besides the point, it _is_ the point."

"That's a blunt statement." Kunshi looked dead in Dyspo's eyes when he said that, and the rabbit straight-faced while his friend couldn't hold the smirk back.

"Did Tupper's spirit creep into you just now?"

"Nope." Kunshi shook his head. "You know what, I've spent way too much time in here and my nose hurts. Can I go home?"

Dyspo looked down at the ground. There was a pause, before he sighed reluctantly. " _Fine_." He looked back at the kitchen, where the men were still working, and then at his best friend. "Wait…"

Kunshi was already at the door. "What?"

Dyspo went over to a shelf on the wall of where his front door was. He picked up something and jingled it in his hands. "...You wanna go to a bakery and eat some pie with me?"

Kunshi narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Did you not learn your lesson?"

"I did learn my lesson." Dyspo nodded. "I ain't the one making pies at a bakery, am I?"

Kunshi thought about the offer, but then the stupid smile on Dyspo's face sold it for him. "Fine. We'll go."

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **What are best friends for, everyone?**


	10. Hidden Talent

**Netfiss' base is home to many strange stories, and many instruments of surprise await behind closed and insulated walls…**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Hidden Talent**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

There is this one particular room that is said to probably be the _quietest_ room in the entire Netfiss base. The only reason why is because you would seldom catch more than two people in this room; the entire group has never been coupled together here, ever. One of the names it adorned was the 'Miscellaneous room' because they had no other use for it, other than to harbor random things that the Troopers could take out whenever they want to.

No, it's not a storage room. It was furnished like a quaint, hangout for a few people. The entire room had a polished wood, rustic theme about its walls and ceilings. The windows of this room were angled, any sunlight that pierced through the glass would coat the room in a warm brown atmosphere. The furniture itself was also very much wooden-based, like the hanging sofa (it was tied to the ceiling, akin to a hammock), the tables and such and such. The items in the room were all stuff that they pretty much did not need immediately; there were old board games, knick knacks, boxes and so on.

Another interesting thing about this room is that it could also be dubbed the 'Instrument room'. There was a grand, expensive well polished and freshly-kempt piano in this room that Kahseral had bought over recently. It had beautiful ivory white keys with onyx black flat and sharp keys and the strings of each key, if you were to open the piano, the strings were made of a golden colloid. The mahogany finish of the piano itself had golden outlines around its edges, and the legs would gradient to a slightly darker shade of brown, almost black, as it traveled down to the feet of the piano. It sat on a raised platform floor behind the hanging sofa, just across from the entrance door.

And as of right now, Cocotte was the individual that opened the door to this room. She stopped to look around; once again, it was as quiet and peaceful as an empty library. The sunlight in the room gave the place a comforting and warm atmosphere… but this particular woman was not warm at all.

Has your body ever been _cold_ for no apparent reason? Well, that's what this particular female Trooper has been experiencing, and she wasn't catching a fever or anything either. Cocotte walked into the room and sighed while holding her arms and thinking out loud. " _Ugh,_ I'm _colllld_."

There was already someone else in the room sitting on the hanging sofa, and he was just as quiet as the entire room around him. She didn't expect the silent Grey to actually say something in regards to her statement. "You're wearing a sweater."

Cocotte shot a look at him, then fast walked and leaned forward just to look at his still face. "Your eyes aren't even open, how would you know?"

He was right though; Cocotte was wearing a cropped baggy grey sweater that stopped right above her belly button, and a pair of baggy sweatpants, but Jiren still shrugged at her question. He was cross legged, had his arms crossed as well, and he wasn't meditating but he might as well be if he could simply _tell_ her attire without looking at her.

Cocotte blinked at him and pursed her lips. She stood up straight and still rubbed her arms to keep herself warm. "Why are you in here?" She wasn't asking that to be rude, she was genuinely curious as to why Jiren was here instead of in another planet or something. The Grey didn't open his eyes, he gave her the most concise answer that any gentleman could muster.

A _detailed_ shrug of his shoulders.

"So you're just here because you have nowhere else to be?" Cocotte frowned at him.

"I just happen to be here." Was all he said.

 _Well…_ "Hnn." She looked around the room. What could possibly attract this dude's attention for him to just sit here silently? There was nothing that the group was rallying everyone up for; if Jiren wanted peace and quiet, he can only be guaranteed that by going to a different planet, or by flying through space, anything having to be _far away_ from the whole Trooper consensus. But instead he's here, there is something in this room that probably attracts his interest. Or maybe it's because this place is hella quiet, and Jiren is too lazy to fly somewhere else.

"You wouldn't mind if I stay here, right?" She leaned forward. Even though his eyes were closed, he did lean away slightly as if he saw her breach through his personal space bubble… or maybe he just doesn't like the scent of pomegranates.

"No." Of course he wouldn't mind, Cocotte really did not need to ask that question.

She did this little skip right past him and went to the farther portion of the room. There was a tiny lullaby box that looked like a cute snow globe and would flash different colored lights according to the notes played. She went up to it and absentmindedly winded it up to hear the song that the little box played. It was rather short but sweet, it made her smile, and her eyes flickered to the quiet Grey on the hanging sofa.

Cocotte's smile turned into a smirk. She wound up the box, but did it much slower so that the tick sounds would be spaced out, all the while ignoring his presence as if he wasn't there. It played again, and she held the little dial so that the song would play much slower. Once it ended, she wounded it up _during_ the lullaby so that the room would be filled with random annoying tick sounds and music.

The female Trooper placed the lullaby box down, and skipped to the other side of the room passing right by him again. She pursed her lips together mischievously as she took hold of a metallic bowl with a dowel and started pseudo stirring it, but as she did so the dowel would clank against the bowl like how a spoon would in a coffee cup. That stupid smirk on her face became a tiny smile, and she sneakily turned around to look at the Grey. There was no reaction from him at all.

She placed the dowel down, and looked to another part of the room to the left of Jiren and right across from her. There was this wooden table that was mounted to the wall, it had a few random things here and there, including a tiny ball that when shaken would make the little marbles in it hit each other noisily. Cocotte pulled her lips into her mouth mischeivously and this time, she went by him while making her skipping as loud as possible. When she got to the table she stopped her skipping by hopping and making her feet thud against the wooden floor before grabbing the little ball and inspecting it. At this moment, she didn't move the ball, she didn't make any noise for several seconds as she glanced back at the Grey, who didn't even move from his spot. She turned to the ball and broke the tidbit of silence by shaking it and holding it close to her ear, acting oblivious to its noisy contrasting of the room.

Jiren's eyes cracked open and he looked to his left.

She was way too busy being entertained by this little toy. Cocotte continued shaking the little ball, she moved it from her ear and looked down at it, and apparently it glows as it's being shaked. _Interesting…_ she swiped it across the air once, then did it again, rolled it against the table, and then picked it up to shake it in between both her hands. As quiet as the room was, her making noise wasn't doing anything that would perturb the atmosphere of this place to a large extent.

"Stop that."

Cocotte _felt_ Jiren's deep, smooth, baritone voice right behind her ear, she froze and dropped the little ball in her hand. Of course, to confirm that he indeed behind her and wasn't doing some 5th dimensional shit, his hand went out to grab the little ball before it even reached below her waist. She looked down to see the ball in his hand, and then she turned her head slowly to come face-to-face with a built set of pecs.

Because she's really short compared to him, she had to look up at him while slightly stammering. "I didn't even _hear_ you move!"

He didn't directly answer that particular statement. He placed the ball back on the table. "Is there a reason as to why you're making so much noise?"

Her eyes followed his hand as he set the ball down. Cocotte wasn't someone who was noisy, in regards to her actions right now. "I got bored." She then looked up at him with a sheepish smile that was quickly wiped off her face because his facial expression just _showed_ that he knew she was lying. She dished it off, of course, this woman was too prideful to back down from a simple glare. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jiren didn't say anything, this man closed his eyes and turned around to go sit at the sofa again. _Oh, but now he decides to walk like a normal person_. "Oh, I can't entertain myself with little knick knacks now?"

"You are trying to grab my attention."

Cocotte blinked, he pretty much outright _said_ it. She shook her head defiantly. "No I'm not."

At this point, Jiren had just sat back down on the sofa. He crossed his arms again, and then looked _dead_ into her eyes making her slightly jump. And then, as if he made this point very clear, he turned away from her and closed his eyes again. _Why did I jump by that?_

"Okay, okay, _maybe_ I was." Cocotte finally shrugged her arms, her hands slapped against her thighs. "I wanted to see if you were gonna react, and you did, so..."

To be truthful, she didn't have a vendetta like that, she just wanted to annoy him.

Jiren had his eyes closed. He wasn't facing her, and his arms were crossed, and the very flat tone of his voice didn't change. "Are you proud?"

Cocotte cocked her neck back. Was that _sarcasm_? She sassily answered him back. "Umm, _mayhaps_." She had this diva like gait as she approached him and leaned far enough so that she was at eye level with him. "Don't get sardonic with me, mister."

All he did was look at her and she had to move her head back a little. The woman stood up straight, and Jiren for a moment followed her movements with his eyes before shaking his head and looking in front of him.

Cocotte crossed her arms, her lips were pursed sideways now. She turned right around and walked away, her long hair swayed and… more than likely made contact with Jiren's face as she did so, but that's not a big deal right? Besides, her hair smelled all nice and fruity, so that _should be_ a plus on his part.

She went to the grand piano, and sat on the cushioned bench while running her fingers gently against the keys. Cocotte at one point had a boyfriend who could play the piano; he treated it as a hobby of course, but he was really good at it. They did separate due to distance problems, and he wanted to see other people, so she did have to let him go. Ever since then, she developed a thing for any attractive guy who could play an instrument, something about it just draws her towards them. Funnily enough, none of the Pride Trooper males can play an instrument. Even Dyspo, who listens to music all the time, has not mastered at least one instrument. This piano hasn't been around for even a week, perhaps the guys themselves can try their hands at playing it since it's here.

Then, something in her clicked. She flicked her attention back to Jiren and pointed at the piano. "Do you see how nice this looks?"

Jiren opened his eyes, and turned around to see where she was pointing, which was at the piano. He blinked. "Yes."

"Kahseral bought this like a week ago." She was still running her hands against the keys. It felt good. "It was from his sons' room, and it's still in mint condition. But I dunno why he'd bring it here, though." She stood up and moved away from the bench with her fingers against the piano as she moved to sit on its closed lid.

For some reason, the second she did that particular action, Jiren looked like he had the _slightest hint_ of a frown on his face. "Why are you sitting there?"

Cocotte shrugged. "I used to sit on pianos like this all the time." She gestured to the way she was sitting. "What? Does it bother you?" The teasing nature of the woman make him straight face again. She pointed to the piano bench. "Come sit."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to sit here."

Jiren blinked. "I don't want to sit there again."

She put her hands on her hips. "Well too bad, I said you gotta sit he- wait… _again_?" Cocotte frowned at him. "You sat here before?"

He nodded.

"You like pianos? That's new." Suddenly, her face lit up. "Were you playing with it before I came? Come sit, I wanna hear you play the piano."

"I wasn't playing with it." He looked at the wooden, grand instrument. "I just sat there."

She scoffed with a smile. "And did what, stare at the ground? No one sits on a piano bench _without_ playing the piano." Cocotte motioned again, beckoning him. "Come on, sit over here and try it out."

She could _swear_ that Jiren looked like he was only doing this just to get it over with, and just to shut her the hell up, but she didn't mind it. Getting a chance to communicate with him is quite a feat, but being annoying and teasing around him was much more entertaining that she had anticipated. She patted the top of the piano gently as he approached her and smirked at him, sitting with her back arched slightly. " _Don't be shy_."

He looked like he was mildly annoyed at her sarcastic, teasing playfulness. The face he gave her while passing right by was enough to make her giggle. He sat down, looked down at the keys before him, before looking up at her. His expression in his eyes said ' _Now what'_?

"I'm pretty sure you've wanted to play this beautiful thing before. I can show you where the notes are. You know the letters and stuff, right?" Cocotte shifted a little to move closer and Jiren kept quiet. "Don't pout like that, have some fun for once."

Jiren furrowed a brow. "I'm not pouting."

He wasn't. She's just fucking with him.

Cocotte chuckled before she leaned forward to look down at the keys. "Alright, so…" she raised a finger and barely made it past the full board. "What is th-"

"G sharp."

Cocotte looked at him, his arms were crossed and his glance was downcast, not even on the keys themselves. She had to pull her hand back and frown in slight shock. "I didn't even get a chance to point at the key yet!"

"I know."

"How did you…?"

"Your eyes were on that key."

 _Really now?_ "Well, _okay_ then. What if I was _looking_ at G sharp, but then pointed at some other key?"

Jiren gave her a look. "Then I would've said the name of the other key."

" _Easier said than done,_ my guy." Cocotte smirked, having stole Vuon's favorite phrase for a moment. She looked at a key on the very far right, and flickered a glance at Jiren while reaching forward to point again. "What about this o-"

"A."

"For fucks sake…" Cocotte threw her hands up and shook her head at him. "Alrightthen _, which one?"_

"Bass Clef."

Cocotte was damn near surprised. She leaned forward. "Fuck, how do you know all this?" All she got was one of Jiren's detailed shrugs again. "Well, are those the only notes you know?"

"I know every key, both flat and sharp, on a piano." He looked down at the keys themselves.

"So…" Cocotte pretended not to be impressed. She crossed her arms and propped her right leg on top of her left, keep in mind this whole time she was being majorly playful. "Play something. All that muscle memory doesn't mean anything if you can't put those keys together in a melody."

He did look at her, and she sassily shrugged while motioning with her neck for him to start. Jiren looked down at the piano keys and slowly placed his fingers against a few of the keys, showing the proper etiquette of a pianist; left hand on the bass notes, right hand on the trebles.

He pressed a couple of chords, and then started playing this piece that Cocotte did not know of at all. It sounded incredibly beautiful, peaceful, pliant, something you'd listen to while cruising through the universe staring at the wonders of space. The melody filled the entire room, which was surprisingly built to make the acoustics sound phenomenal, and Jiren was very aware of the weight keys on a piano. He would press the keys gently, making the melody much softer than how it would be if he just pressed them down completely. He didn't say a word, he didn't go off beat or off key anywhere, he just played this amazing time that made the woman sitting before him slowly drop her arms.

Cocotte's face showed downright astonishment, her arms dropped to her sides and she leaned forward, towards this Pride Trooper whose black eyes were on the piano itself. His hands moved quite fast because the melody sounded very meticulous, she was certain that her boyfriend could not come _close_ to playing something like this without making at least one mistake. He might hit the wrong key by accident because he would be moving too fast for his mind and fingers to work together but _Jiren_ was sitting here breathing all calmly and hitting every note like it was nothing, and the song he was playing was beautiful… expressive…

Her lips parted slightly, Cocotte no longer felt cold.

Jiren's hands left the keys of the piano, ending the majestic piece he just played, and he crossed his arms while looking down at the keys. Meanwhile, the woman who was sitting on the piano watching this beautiful spectacle could do nothing more than stay speechless. Cocotte just stared at him with wondrous eyes, still magnetized by his ability to play a piano so expertly well.

He still sat there looking as humble as ever, even with Cocotte gazing at him intensely. "Are you okay?"

Cocotte looked like she wasn't even fully out of it when she answered him. " _Mnn-hnnn…"_

The Grey raised a brow before uncrossing his arms and snapping a finger to get her attention. Cocotte leaned back, because she didn't realize she was leaning forward, and blinked, before shaking her head and speaking. "W-when did you learn how to play a piano?"

He crossed his arms again. "I was bored."

Cocotte shook her head wondrously, even though a portion of her fluttered weirdly at the talent itself. "And boredom makes you pull out some godly melody like that?"

He shrugged.

 _This guy is something else._ "Damn… Just, wow…" she looked down at the piano before getting off the lid to sit on the bench right beside Jiren, with personal space of course. "Can you... do that again? That was magical."

Jiren blinked at her and she leaned away from him because she wasn't used to being so close to him and he's too tall. Okay, Cocotte didn't have a problem with sitting next to Toppo despite his height but with Jiren, it's different; maybe it has something to do with his… his look or _something_ , she didn't really know. Cocotte looked down at his hands, which were now above a few keys on the piano before he actually started playing. It was a different melody this time, more _complex_ yet peaceful and simplistic in nature. His hands seemed to move so fluidly and on par with his own rhythm, so much so that Cocotte was mesmerized by even the _sight_ of him playing.

She slowly went from gazing at his hands to his face. He always, _always_ had such peaceful composure and flow, and even now he didn't seem to look like he was remotely struggling. Dude looked nonchalant, as if what he was doing was as simple as pouring water into a cup, but it was a humble nonchalance. Cocotte tilted her head, _he doesn't look half bad_ …

This was quite a sight; some muscular grey alien who was the strongest in the entire universe only exerting little effort to play a musical instrument like this. She looked him up and down as he played; she did say she didn't like big buff guys, but Jiren seem to make the cut for being acceptable because his body was of such perfect proportion, from his damn pecs to his feet. Simple guys weren't that big of a preference for her, but geez… who knew someone so simple could be so-

 _WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS?_ Cocotte shook her head, blinking right out of whatever weird ass train of thought she had only to see that Jiren was frowning at her, and the room was _dead silent_. How long had he stopped playing?

"Uhh…" Cocotte scratched the back of her head. "My bad, I was uhh… mesmerized."

"I stopped playing a minute ago."

Cocotte stopped mid-scratch. _Well, shit._ "Still mesmerized, my dude!" Her weirdly nervous chuckle made him blink. For some reason, that blink inwardly made her suspicious. She quickly changed up her train of thought. "Where did you hear those songs from?"

Jiren looked at her. "Nowhere."

 _The fuck kinda answer is that?_ She took a moment to think about that. "Wait… _you made that up?_ " Cocotte made a circle motion while gesturing. "This _whole_ song, the one before, you just made those up?"

He nodded.

" _How_?!"

Jiren gave her another detailed shrug.

Cocotte slouched a little looking down at the piano, and then at him. "I didn't… think that you could actually do something like this…" Maybe this was why he was here, Jiren can play a piano, which meant that he actually likes music. But the music he just played was very different from the music that she always listened to; his was tranquil, sound, and surprisingly passionate. It's the type of music you'd imagine when exploring something vast, and when she thought about it, he mostly spends his time traversing the universe. And it's calming, not rushy or rogue, it soothes the mind once one hears it. Now he had his hands folded together on his lap, a thing that he does a lot, kind of like one of those 'good-noodle' kids who fold their hands on their school desks. Weirdly enough, seeing his built physiqued-self just sitting so pliantly like that… she found that really cute.

"What are you staring at?"

Cocotte sat straight up all the sudden and blinked like a deer caught in headlights, _I'm probably creeping him the fuck out right now._ As if she didn't just get caught red handed, her eyes went down to what he was wearing. "Why are you still wearing your Pride Trooper suit?"

 _Obviously_ , that wasn't what her attention was on, and Jiren damn well knew that. So there was his slight narrowing of his eyes for a nanosecond before he answered her. "Because I want to."

And because he doesn't find the need to wear any else other than his suit because he's not as leisurelike as everyone else. Courtesy to Toppo for switching that up later in the future and getting him to wear something casual in front of the others.

"Oh…" She slowly nodded, still frazzled, and had a faint smile on her face. Then Jiren blinked, and stood up from the piano ledge, walking back to his rightful place on the hanging sofa to sit in silence. This was a _kind_ que for her to exit the room as well, and when she did she paused for a moment to stare at the floor with thoughts running through her head.

When she went back to where the other were, she was actually a bit quieter than usual. There were only five of the ten Troopers in this base today; Dyspo, Kunshi, and Vuon were there with Cocotte and Jiren, and the two of the latter were somewhere else while Dyspo was reclined back on the sofa with his hands behind his neck, the epitome of _lounging._ The second Cocotte entered this lounge room, Dyspo opened his eyes as if he had something to say.

"Man, I heard some music downstairs." Dyspo looked at her.

"You heard music downstairs?" Cocotte asked.

"Yeah, it sounded phenomenal!" He finally leaned forward to sit up with a glance of interest. "Was that you?"

Cocotte slightly chuckled, with a light almost timid shake of her head. "Nah I…" she gestured with her thumb, "I had some friend over and he was playing on Kahseral's piano."

By the way, the Pride Troopers were allowed to bring close friends and relatives into their bases sometimes. Thought that notion alone is very rare. "Really?" Dyspo frowned. "Where is he?"

"He _just_ left." Cocotte smiled.

Dyspo tilted his head, and then he nodded before taking a good look at Cocotte. He then frowned. "Are you okay?"

That's _the same exact thing that Jiren fucking asked her for god's sa-_ "Yeah, I'm fine. Why ask?" The bunny had _that look_ on his face, the kind of look where you know your friend is going to say something that's annoyingly wrong. " _No,_ don't get any ideas."

He had a dashing smirk on his face. "Is he gonna be the next?"

What he meant by _next_ was referring to this pseudo guyfriend that she made up possibly being her boyfriend in the near future, and that made her get slightly pink in the cheeks. Not because of the idea of a guy friend of hers being date-worthy, but because she was using that excuse to cover up the fact that that person who was magically playing the piano was _Jiren_. So essentially, Dyspo just implied that he thought _Jiren_ would be her _next catch_ without even knowing it, but that's what her brain concluded it as.

She shook her head and slapped his arm. "You're such an idiot."

"C'mon now, it's rare to see you all quiet like this around a guy." Dyspo ignored her slap, and placed his arm over her shoulder. "How long have you known him?"

 _I don't know him_. "A-a long time, now shut up!" The stupid heat in her cheeks wasn't going away. "He's just, he's just a friend. Geez, you want me to be in a relationship so bad."

"I just want good things for ya." Dyspo smiled jokingly, but he meant that and she knew it. "The last time this happened, you ended up in the happiest relationship you've ever been in, and that lasted for years before you had to separate. Watch," he tapped her nose, "he might be the one."

If Dyspo don't _shut his damn mouth_ , because she felt like she had to keep this newfound information somewhat clandestine. So she can't tell him this was actually Jiren, knowing that he'll tease her _a hundred_ times more for it. Luckily enough, Vuon came into the room, literally holding the stairway and leaning so far that if he were to let go, he'd fall on his face.

"'Eyyy, Dyspo, and Cocotte." Vuon waved. "You guys wanna watch Scavenge?"

That was a scary movie that recently came out from one of the countries in Cardia. Dyspo shrugged. "I'm down for it, where's Kunshi."

"He's putting it on." Vuon pointed with his other hand. "What about you, Coco?"

She nodded but reconciled the idea a bit. "I'll join you guys in a moment, I just gotta look at something real quick."

"She's got a spell upon her, dude."

"DYSPO!" She smacked his back and he winces loudly at the impact, making Vuon cock his dinosaur neck all the way the heck back.

"OW-okay, okay, you don't have a spell on you. _My bad_." He raised his hands because she raised her hand to smack him again, and then dashed to the left at a safe and _less violent_ distance. "I'ma go upstairs, and get an ice pack for my back. _Thanks a lot._ "

She crossed her arms. "You deserved it."

Vuon snorted. "Dyspo, get the heck over here. We'll wait for ya, Cocotte." He motioned for the bunny to come through, in which he did. Both he and Dyspo went upstairs, while Cocotte stayed there with her arms crossed. The second they were out of her view, her arms fell to her sides. Cocotte blinked twice while looking downwards, fingers loosely folding together over her chest as she took a weirdly deep breath in thought…

Something very admirable was pulling at her heartstrings...

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Jiren is Mozart confirmed lol. Omg you guys, he actually** _ **talked**_ **more! Him triggered at Cocotte sitting on top of the piano, lol. It was quite entertaining how they played with each other,** **pause** **.**

 **I'll reference the songs I was describing, because I did have the songs in mind in coitus of writing this. The first song that Jiren played is the same piano roll that's in Apples and Oranges by Fobee/Caramusic, and the second one is Last Leaf Falls.**

 **Y'all notice how Cocotte is all brash and confident in the first half of the story and then she got mad quiet afterwards? Ladies, find you a man that can hold it down no matter what-** _ **no**_ **, I'm not** _ **insinuating**_ **anything between these two. Okay?** _ **Okay.**_

 **I'm not saying that** _ **you**_ **can't start something between them, of course…**


	11. Toppo's Dream

**So at the time I finished this chapter, I had this one dream like several days after where I was watching some Pride Trooper spinoff (I know right, that'd be a dope dream, wouldn't it). It was dubbed in English… and the Pride Troopers had Russian accents.**

 **So, moral of that story is;** _ **the Pride Troopers need Russian accents in the English dub.**_

 **But for this story here… there's no morals to it, at least I can't find any so I'll leave that part to you all. Hehe.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Toppo's Dream**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

"You guys."  
The leader of the Pride Troopers stepped into the room, the only people that were there were Kaseral, Kettol, Zoiray, Dyspo, Cocotte, and Vuon. Everyone else was at their own homes or on top of a volcano at the moment, don't ask.  
Everyone was dressed leisurely, as in nobody had their suits on. Toppo came in with a regular pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, he had just came out from a nap in his own designated room.

"What's up?" Vuon asked.

Toppo paused for a moment, for there were things going through his mind, before he shook his head. "I had the weirdest dream just now."

"Knew it." Kettol raised a finger. "I know _that_ look."  
"Really?" Dyspo looked at Toppo. "How weird?"  
"It was... Unusual." Toppo now sat amongst his squad in the large circle lounging area. "It happened so quickly that when I woke up I was utterly confused, but it did involve all of us. We were fighting an enemy that none of us could beat and had to run, apparently."  
"Why would we run?" Vuon frowned. "What'd it look like?"  
"They were three giants, and I dunno..." Toppo shrugged. "It was strange, but here's how it went, I'll explain it as best as I can..."

 _A single star zoomed across the skies of Vascule, the blue tint of its tail contrasting with the light orange sky's hue. The other Pride Troopers were somewhere away from Toppo, Kaseral, and Jiren, who were standing together. Toppo and Kaseral were talking of course, and Jiren was busy giving his monologue to the two men whenever they weren't speaking...  
We all know this man barely talks, ever. That was pure sarcasm.  
Then suddenly, the trio felt the ground tremor slightly, before seeing a rogue blast flying several hundred feet above them. Dyspo came charging towards Toppo and grabbed him by the shoulders.  
"What's wrong?!" Toppo looked at Dyspo, concerned.  
"We can't take them down! There's no way we could stop those giant freaks, run!" The bunny shook Toppo before letting go and speeding off. "RUNNNN!"  
"I'M OUT THIS, MAN!" The trio saw Zoiray zoom past in a whirlwind state, followed by Cocotte and Tupper. Vuon and Kettol ran past as well with Kettol looking at the dinosaur Trooper.  
"Vuon… Vuon, you have to go on without me." Kettol was breathing heavily from running too much. "I can't go on any further... Save yourselves." He made this weird exhausted noise before collapsing to the ground.  
"No! Kettol, GET UP!" Vuon pulled at Kettol's arm and the man on the ground was still breathing at a loss of stamina. Vuon pulled him just in time to push him away from the impeding foot of the giant that was now several dozens of meters away from Toppo and Kahseral. The second it hit the ground, the surface beneath Vuon and Kettol exploded, sending them flying elsewhere.  
"VUON! KETTOL!" Kahseral looked to the direction of where they flew and then turned to the giant before them. This thing was at least an entire mile tall, they almost couldn't see past its shoulders. It was large and black, with gigantic hands and a biologically anomalous body. The thing made an egregious sound akin to laughter, making the trio raise their hands to throw a ki blast at it.  
Weirdly enough, the threat posed to them didn't look that powerful, and even weirder was the fact that Jiren didn't immediately step forward to snack this thing out of their presence. Yes, snack is the term for this particular incident.  
Toppo and Kahseral sent a blast towards the giant, and the thing legitimately flicked them away.  
"JUSTICE..." Toppo got his fingers ready as he jumped up several dozen meters to enact his trademark attack. "FLASH!"  
What happens next would piss off anybody who believes too hard in power logic…._

 _The giant saw the myriad of blasts being sent its way, and he didn't even inhale or anything. All he did was blow the blasts away with his mouth, sending them back at the ground's surface behind the trio right after Toppo landed back on the ground.  
Him and Kahseral stared up in shock. At this point, Jiren took a step forward, and jumped without any hesitation. He was so far up that the commander and the leader couldn't see him clearly, and Jiren raised a ki charged fist at the giant's chest. The giant held his punch against his palm, Jiren's fist didn't go any major damage to it at all. In fact, the giant swung his palm down, making Jiren swing his hand down before the giant raised two fingers...  
...And flicked this motherfucker Jiren away like a fly.  
Toppo looked up in absolute horror, seeing his absolute strongest friend fly backwards a hundred feet before he teleported himself right next to Kahseral, in which they both didn't notice immediately and it made them shriek a little for no reason. Out of the shadows, another giant approaches its friend and looked down at the three. The giant raised a palm upwards at sent a zapping blast towards them, and none of the three Troopers asked questions or anything._

 _The three friggin' booked it._

 _Toppo, Jiren, Kahseral; the Leader, the Alpha, and the Commander were being chased by mile long giants, with every step they make the ground would shake and make them hop a little bit in their sprinting. Randomly, there was a base of the Pride Troopers a few hundred feet away from them and Kahseral pointed to it whilst they ran towards it. Before they got a chance to enter through the doors, that zapping attack went to the troopers base and transformed it into an…_

" _EVIL VOTHBALL!" Toppo yelled before running away from the giant transformed base in fear, the other two following him._

 _[If you didn't get that drift, moles (I swear that's the animal Toppo is modeled after) reject mothballs. Mothballs are used as a mole repellent, just thought you'd know that]_

 _They ran towards another particular building, and that one was zapped into a giant, menacingly noisy contraption that looked like a rotary razor. "RAZOR!"_

" _How the hell…" Kahseral scrunched up his nose as the rotary razor made a loud roaring zipping noise. At the moment, the three felt the ground shake beneath them, a low pitched sound came from its very surface. They slowly turned around to see the grassy patch of land on the other end of the street thud and stretch upward before breaking apart to reveal another giant emerging from the ground, revealing another giant that came out with thunderous, deep laughter._

 _You ever just noped your way out of something? Well that's basically what happened just now._

 _Toppo, Jiren and Kahseral turned right the fuck around and ran away from the giant razor, and the third giant that now joined the chase party. Do not ask why Toppo is somehow afraid of giant rotary razors._

 _The entire street was being bombarded with random blasts and zaps that the three had to dodge, jump from, and dash away from. One of the giants threw down a blast that looked akin to a horizontal psionic line, it hit the street in front of them and turned into a large barrier, blocking their path and forcing them to turn around and face the three giants sneering at them.  
The leader and commander unconsciously backed up behind Jiren, who valiantly raised an open palm to combat whatever these giants had in store.  
"You..." Jiren scowled, his arm started to flare and his palm had a small, near translucent ki ball that was accumulating with every second. The giants had a strategy for this, and it wasn't to block the impending attack at all.  
The three leaned forward so that the Troopers could see their face, before throwing their heads back as if they were taking a deep breath. They came back down, making their heads smash together which made their heads fuse together; there was now one gross looking head with six eyes that were line up like a semi circle. Their noses were all over the damn place, like there was one on their cheek and another on their left temple, and their mouths fused into one giant ass mouth with two ears on each end of their lips.  
You ever seen something so nasty that you had to pause for a moment to access how nasty it was? Jiren lowered his arm slightly, because the sight of this fusion was gross enough to make him blink slowly. "Toppo... This dream is weird."_

 _The giant took a deep breath, and blew harshly at the direction of the trio. Jiren allowed his ki blast to fly forwards, but due to how hot that breath was the blast itself damn near evaporated but did enough justice to keep their noses from dying at the smell of its breath. What it didn't do was fully protect them from the force of the breath, so the three ended up flying backwards until they rolled against the street on top of each other._

 _Somehow, that one attack didn't kill Toppo and Kahseral but again, this is a dream, and nothing's making sense right now._

 _Unfortunately for Jiren, Toppo's big belly ass was on top of him and Kahseral's booted foot was against Toppo's cheek. The three giants approached and looked down at the trio, who pretty much looked like they in a advanced match of Twister right now. Without wasting any more time, the giant fusion puckered its dirty moss colored lips and bent down to uhh... What the heck was it gonna do?  
Hopefully it wasn't gonna kiss them, god that notion made them sick to their stomach.  
"I'M A MARRIED MAN, STOP!" Kahseral yelled while shielding his eyes and face from the impending. Apparently, that's what it was going to do. Umm...  
"GET AWAY FROM US!" Toppo rolled off of Jiren's poor back; he was used to carrying the team anyway. His back must hurt all the damn time.  
And it looked like he needed to do so again. Jiren wrapped his arm around Toppo's shoulders and Kahseral by his waist and he flew upwards, swerving before the giants tried any bullshit on them. He quickly blasted away from the area, and the giants chased Jiren while laughing loudly.  
Kahseral and Toppo didn't even realize they were airborne until they moved their hands from their eyes. Jiren was carrying the both of them out of harm's way, and Toppo looked back to see that they weren't taking long to catch up to the flying Grey. They chased them with a hand of... What the heck are they even holding? It looked like a pole with a ball attached to it, where the heck did they get that from?  
They swung it, and since they weren't that far from them Jiren had to swerve and dodge the weird thing while flying, apparently their swinging was much faster than they all anticipated, there were several instances where it would graze against Toppo's leg and he's feel the immense heat of the pole-ball thingy ghosting against his calve. They, made contact after what seemed like a minutes of flying; it hit Jiren's backside, making him flip while in midair. The ball was so hot, it singed half of Toppo's beard off and burned off a portion of Kahseral's pants, and it legitimately made Jiren say "Ow."  
D-did Jiren really get hurt by a giant hot ass ball? Again, do not ask.  
As quick as he was hit, for some reason he started to twitch like an airplane that was losing gas in mid flight. He did that a few times before they stopped accelerating and no longer were picking up speed to actually fly. Toppo looked down at the distance between them and the ground. "Shit."  
The trio went tumbling down to a portion of the land that was all dirt, their bodies were scattered and picking up dirt piles as they rolled into the ground. Three dismantled-hair heads (well, I mean... Jiren's bald, and Kahseral's clean shaven, so make that one) popped out of the ground, and Kahseral had a dizzy look on his face._

 _The three looked back to see the three giants before them, and Toppo turned back around. They had brutally landed right before a small open window, in which the leader took both his friends and shoved them right into it, rendering the two stuck to one another. Toppo crouched, as if he was about to jump up and land…_ _ **somewhere.**_

 _Jiren gave him a careful look. "Toppo… What are you doing?"_

" _Toppo." Kahseral looked at the leader, and he and Jiren started trying to wiggle their way out of this situation because big ass Toppo was about to shove them into this house in the worst way possible. "STOP IT!"_

 _The leader continued to run forward. Imagine seeing some giant, built yet fat mole running towards you with a white mustache in red and black spandex…_ _ **How would you feel?**_ _Toppo leaped forward, and Kahseral yelled in horror while Jiren looked up at his friend with a high amount concern, the impending belly slam getting terrifyingly closer to their faces..._

"And umm… that's the story of my dream. There." Toppo scratched the back of his head while everyone else was just dead silent, there was _no_ noise in the room. The Pride Troopers didn't move, even the drink Vuon was holding was just before his mouth while he stared at the leader in mild concern. Dyspo shared the same concerned look too, everything in his purple face said _What the fuck, man?_

If you walked into the room right now, it would look like everyone was doing the mannequin challenge. This went on for several seconds, before Cocotte broke the silence with a question we all had in our heads after reading this…

" _What kind of dream is that?"_

"What thoughts were you having before you slept?" Zoiray blinked at Toppo, and the leader shrugged.

"I dunno, I was thinking about going to _sleep_ , that's about it." He seriously didn't know where this came from. "It's a dream, I reckon it wouldn't make sense."

"I'm just… I'm so shocked, I don't think I could ever dream of _Jiren_ being flicked away." Vuon shook his head, placing his drink down. There was so much wrong with the dream. "And why does dream Jiren _know_ that this is a dream?!"

Toppo shrugged dramatically. "I don't know!"

"Hold on..." Kettol raised an objective finger at Toppo. "Why do I have shit cardio in this dream?"

"Because you have shit cardio in real life."

Kettol shot a look at the tiny blue Pride Trooper and his rebuttal. "Shut up Zoiray, no one asked you." _  
"It's true_ , thought."

"You say one more word about that and I will-"

" _Whaddya gon' do_?" Zoiray raises his arms by his sides, leaning forward with narrowed eyes. " _Chase_ me?"

"You two can stop bullying one another now." Vuon raised a hand at Kettol and Zoiray before a windfest marathon would happen again. Trust me, that's a thing in this universe. "Toppo, have a seat."

"Yeah man, have a seat." Dyspo gestured to the empty seat beside him. Normally, they would say _'Come sit with us'_ or something less formal, but they only did this when they were concerned with someone. Cocotte left to get a glass of water and as Toppo sat, she handed him the glass like he was parched or some shit.

"You guys, there's _nothing_ wrong with me. _Geez._ " He raises both hands in reassurance, but Vuon tilted his head.

"Mmm I dunno, usually crazy dreams like that indicate that you haven't drank enough water the day before."

"I can _assure_ you, I drank more than enough of the daily dose." Toppo looked at Vuon. He did smile under his beard, Vuon was being humorous again.

"I just love the randomness of it." Kettol shook his head. "You came in as if this dream wasn't as weird as it turned out to be, and apparently we're running away, three giants fuse and try to kiss you, Jiren and Kahseral, and uhh… are you afraid of razors or something?"

" _No._ " Toppo answered that way too quickly, while subconsciously touching his own beard and Kettol furrowed his brows with a smirk. "No seriously, I'm not."

"Then why would a giant rotary razor scare you?"

"Because the dream made no sense." Toppo shook his head, and started to chuckle. "Even Jiren was afraid of it."

"He has _no hair_." Zoiray said. "What can he possibly shave?"

"His-" Vuon was about to say something dirty and funny, but he thought back on behalf of it and decided not to gross himself out. "His chest hair."

"You nasty _fuck_." Cocotte started laughing. "Don't act like we don't know what you were about to say!"

"I was _totally_ gonna say chest hair!" Vuon couldn't help the stupid smile growing on his face though.

" _Bull-shit_." Zoiray sounded out the word all extra-like because he is extra.

"What were you all doing here anyway?" Toppo gestured to the crew of playful adults, and they looked at him and then looked at the table in which there was a board game with pieces laid out since they had started already. It's called SnatchHouse, it's like a combination of Monopoly and CandyLand except everyone gets to keep their friendships and families intact because it's not that serious.

If it was Numbers, which is similar to Uno, _that_ is a different story.

"Oh." Toppo blinked. "You all already started?"

"We begin shortly before you came with that epic tail of _voyáge_." Dyspo said, Toppo gave him a look. "You can join in though."

"Okay, cool…" Toppo smiled. He leaned forward while everyone rounded everything up to be distributed again. A random cringe hit him when he thought back to that weird giant fusion thing by accident, he muttered to himself. "I need something to…Take my mind off of seeing _that_."

Somewhere far, far away within Universe 11, Jiren was busy doing what he does best; meditating. The Grey was perched on top of a mountain cliff, right in view of the sun and with the wind blowing gently against his face. He centered his energy around everywhere, there was no need for a focus point because he was immersed in his own void, a place of ultimate and undeniable peace… And then this random image of some giant head with six large eyes, moss green _ear_ lips, mismatch noses, and thick hair follicles popped up in his mind.

Jiren opened his eyes and looked from his left, to his right, and then forward with a weird glare on his face before silently cringing at that random ass incursion.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Just to reiterate: WHY DOES THE JIREN IN TOPPO'S DREAM** _ **KNOW**_ **THAT THIS SHIT IS A DREAM? AND WHY THE HECK DID HE GET THAT IMAGE IN HIS HEAD IF HE WASN'T DREAMING ABOUT IT EITHER?** _ **THE FUCK?!**_

 _ **This further solidifies that there could only be one Jiren.**_

 _ **What do you guys think is the reason for Toppo to be scared of a razor? Lol this was fun to write.**_


	12. Another Day Of Work

**For you guys in the reviews of the last chapter saying that it was a reference from Ed Edd n Eddy…**

 **YES!**

 **YOU'RE SPOT ON! It was, and it's one of my ultimate favorite shows of all time, childhood was straight fire with that show along with Codename, Code Lyoko, Tom and Jerry, this list goes** _ **on**_ **. If you're wondering where I got that from, I recall the episode being Attack on Kanker or something like that.** _ ***snaps fingers***_ **Anyways...**

 **Just another day of saving lives and kicking bad-guy asses. Nothing unusual, of course.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Another Day of Work**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

Mahro, the city the four Troopers were in, was completely destroyed. The buildings have crumbled, and the streets were too ragged to walk through. Four culprits of this big mess were now facing the four Pride Troopers who came with the Commander, Kahseral. He had already had many of the civilians evacuated from the sight, just in time before the big baddies: Serya, Hyuni, Kosh and Steel could unveil a riveting bunch of attacks, and Kahseral called the Troopers in for this job. Cocotte, Vuon, Tupper, and Zoiray were the ones who showed up, and they were now engaged in a full on fight with the two women of this villainous quartet: Serya, and Hyuni.

A quick Zoiray-whirlwind sent Tupper's variable-weighted body towards the adversaries, who did have enough time to block but not fully repel the hefty duo-attack. Tupper's tenton body mass pushed them back to the point where their feet were planted within the ground. Serya, one of the opponents, turned both palms away from her forearms to energetically push Tupper off the both them.

Her other accomplice, Hyuni, supplemented the attack with a quick force of wind pressure that was strong enough to send Tupper back a dozen meters. She was about to send off another wave of wind when her wrist was grabbed from behind, and she turned around to see the very yellow lasso gripping her wrists. She was thrown backwards by Vuon, who jumped up while she was airborne and kicked her square in the bag, sending her flying into a pile of rocks.

"Hyuni!" Serya turned around, and in a moment of weakness she made herself open to a ki blast send off by Cocotte. She flew backwards but caught herself quickly, doing multiple backflips and catching herself to throw a horizontal ki blast at the female Pride Trooper. Cocotte swiped her hands in front of her to create a frontal barrier while running towards the adverse woman.

"You really think that's gonna be enough to stop me?" Cocotte scoffed a laugh, raising her hand with a charged blast in tow.

"No…" Serya smirked. "But _this_ will…" She clapped her hands once, the same horizontal blast folded inwards to trap Cocotte and slam her right to the ground. Her black eyes lit up at the sight of victory.

"How dare you!" Zoiray flew upwards. He threw a barrage of ki blasts at Serya to keep her distracted while he went to Cocotte. Due of Serya dealing with Zoiray's blasts, she couldn't sustain the ki-hold on Cocotte and she broke free, Zoiray helped her up from the ground. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm good." She smiled down at Zoiray, and turned towards Serya, who was emerging from the smoke cause by the blasts. The three looked at each other, and Serya looked at them. She let out a snide chuckle and charged at the two Pride Troopers who did the exact same, already rolling in for battle.

And speaking of rolling, Tupper's giant-mass body smashed right into the concrete divider that Hyuni was trying to hide behind of. She high jumped and was met with Vuon's fist. She blocked it, and the two exchanged punches and kicks before Hyuni dropkicked Vuon downwards. The dinosaur Pride Trooper landed on both his feet, just in time to whip away the sharp blasts Hyuni threw at him. They haphazardly hit different already collapsed buildings, debris and shrapnel flew around behind Vuon. Her forearm and his wrist made a harsh impact, the sheer force of her speed making Vuon plant his feet against the ground.

Tupper came in from the left with a somersault kick, hitting Hyuni's side. A wince erupted from her mouth, her heeled feet skidded against the ground as she placed both fists into the concrete surface to slow herself down. She looked forward, at the two Pride Troopers who were now side-by-side with one another.

Hyuni harrumphed, her husky voice went to a slightly foiled tone. "Take turns, _gentlemen_." She crossed her pink, toned arms. "Two on one seems quite unfair, don't you think?"

"We do whatever we will to knock you and your cohorts down." Vuon said, his purple eyes growing defiant. "Don't think you have the right to call on a fair fight!"

"Don't think you have what it takes to knock me _down_!" Hyuni crouched and dashed to the two with both palms outstretched. Her sharp pink ki blasts came towards them like discs, and Vuon and Tupper couldn't simply deflect them due to the magnitude of speed they were traveling. Hyuni flipped forwards and up into the air, placing two fingers in front of her palm and exacting V-formation ki blasts at the separated Pride Troopers. Vuon's feet hit the wall of a building, he ran horizontally on the wall as the blasts followed him and Tupper was far across from him. He skid against a ramped concrete floor before running until he was behind her scope of view and side stepping, distributing much weight to his feet and kicking a big rock towards Hyuni who was not facing him. She turned around too late, the rock had already hit her hard and made her stagger a bit in the air, stopping her ki assault and leaving her open to Vuon to attack.

"Don't you run from me!" On the other hand, Serya's horizontal ray-like ki blasts went towards Zoiray, who had backed away from her and deflected her attacks with his whirlwind. Cocotte zoomed forward, and the two women were kicking a blocking each other's hits before Serya got the upper hand, punching Cocotte square in the gut. The female Pride Trooper gasped in pain, and then was kneed so hard and fast she ended up flying backwards.

Zoiray made an attempt to go after Cocotte's flying body, but stopped when he saw Tupper jump forward to catch Cocotte before she'd make any fatal impact with a building wall. He turned towards Serya again… but she wasn't there.

"What the-"

Zoiray painfully winced when he felt a boot collide with his face from his side. His back hit a nearby pile of rocky rubble, and he quickly flipped himself back up and side jumpe to evade Serya's punch.

"Thanks." Cocotte smiled at Tupper, who gave her a sweet one back as well. She jumped from his arms and went to aid Zoiray. She kicked Serya on her neck, making the woman stumble forwards just as her accomplice fell right next to her after and attack Vuon threw her away. Then, the four Pride Troopers stood side by side, raising their palms and charging up ki of different colors. Vuon, Zoiray, Cocotte, and Tupper combined their blasts together, going off in a swirl that traveled faster than both Serya and Hyuni could dodge.

"JUSTICE STREAM!"

The two villain accomplices screamed as their bodies were being overtaken by the heated blast of the four heroes, their screams fading as the area in and around them became a fiery trail of the blast's aftermath. The building wall behind them blew apart and collapsed under the force of the blast, lighting up the vicinity in an orange hue. The four Pride Troopers stood tall and high, before turning away from the large scale explosion, the heat making any hair on their heads blow softly.

Somewhere ahead of the others, Kosh was busy looking over the destruction of the city. He was far above in the air, just before the clouds that would touch his forehead. The man was about a hundred feet tall, and mostly made of silver metal though parts of him were organic. He smirked down at the Pride Troopers splitting up to handle the two strong females, but then that smug look on his face was wiped when he saw how they were instantly taken down by the four Troopers.

"How in the…" He shook his head, to ward off the worry of losing two helper-hands at the palms of the heroes themselves. Kosh crossed his arms and was about to zoom down to the very ground to end these Troopers off, but was stopped when the air around him got _scarily_ cold and still.

Before he knew it, something hit him faster than he could register it as even an impact, and he was sent flying at least hundreds of times faster than a fighter jet.

"Has everyone been cleared?" Tupper held his watch up, speaking to the Commander on the other end.

"Yes, the civilians have evacuated safely. I haven't seen the other two men who were involved in the destruction ye-" Kahseral suddenly cut himself off, the call was on but he was interrupted by something.

"Kahseral? Kahseral, come in, Kahseral!" Almost instantly, Vuon reacted with much concern to the sudden interruption.

Zoiray floated upwards towards Tupper's watch. "What happened over there?"

Kahseral sounded really confused on the other end. "...Something just zipped across the sky and made a weird noise as it did so."

"What thing?" Zoiray asked, and Cocotte pointed up at the sky because said thing was actually in their view. As it got _rapidly_ closer, it sounded like a male screaming, and looked like a giant metal construct of some sort. The guy barely swooped several meters above every single one of the confuzzled Pride Troopers' head at terminal speed, before slamming back-first into a hard, foundation-clad wall behind them.

When the dust settled, all they saw was Kosh's sprawled out body against the wall, before he fell stomach down to the floor with a pained grunt that ironically made his voice crack.

Zoiray, Cocotte, Tupper and Vuon all blinked while approaching this dude who was a part of the destructive quartet. Usually, they would have dispatched of him in an instant because of his affiliation, but Kosh flew _so fast_ and was slammed into the wall _so hard_ that they initially had to _check_ to see if he wasn't mangled and dead already, which he wasn't because he did grunt.

Kosh shakily brought himself up, looking down the ground and then all around the concrete floor. "...How did I get here?"

"You… flew." Vuon was the first to break his group's silence by answering Kosh's question as best as he could, because they honestly don't know how the heck he ended up turning into a failed rocketship.

"Well _yeah_ , but…" Kosh was way too confused to fully take into account that he was talking to the very people that he was supposed to smack down. Let's just say this interaction is due to everyone still being under the rouse of shock. "I was up in the air and then I'm down here."

"Maybe you like… got hit by something?" Zoiray shrugged. "Or your confused butt forgot how to fly."

"I _know_ how to fly, short stack!"

"Watch your tone with me, toasty!"

"Why are you guys arguing?" Tupper looked at the two, bringing everyone back to reality. "We're supposed to be _fighting_."

"... You're right on behalf of that." Kosh now got up, and he suddenly raised his hand. "Now die!"

Energy blades came hurling from Kosh's right, hitting him and initially making him lose his balance before he was completely thrown off track by a few meters the other way. Kosh made a weird sound as he was being hit, once again rendered to being airborne, and then groaning in pain and annoyance when his face skidded against the ground. Kahseral's boots landed against the ground he 'sheathed' his energy blades when he saw his fellow Trooper gang.

"I had to follow the direction of this thing, I didn't know what it was." The Commander said, now that he had the civilians moved somewhere else he could help his squad with this giant strong man.

Unfortunately for Kosh, due to being slapped down at an unregistrable speed by _who knows what_ , his energy pool was lower than normal. These five Troopers against him at this point would be overkill, so he held his wrist to his face while still on the ground. "Steel!"

A whole _line_ of explosions started erupting around and in the already destroyed buildings, amongst the fiery atmosphere out jumped a man with electrically charged fist. He was about a hundred feet in the air, and when his feet slammed down on the ground the entire surface shook with electrical currents strong enough to make the Pride Troopers jump up from being electrocuted. His knees raised from the ground, and while his gaze was downcast, he raised both hands to light up the sky above the Pride Troopers with electrical bolts that went out their way to seek every single one of his adversaries.

Zoiray attempted to whirlwind himself again, but the simple act cause the currents around them to get stronger, and he zapped right on his back. Cocotte opened up a large dimension bubble that encapsulated every Trooper with her before they could get hurt any further.

"Don't hide in that bubble of yours!" Steel zoomed forward and put both his wrists together with his palms outstretched, emitting a large electric impulse that forced Cocotte to put her hands against the bubble to maintain it. From behind came a supercharged Kosh, who gotten much of his energy back from Steel's shock incursion, started punching at the energetically conjured bubble, making it diminish slowly with the impact of his fists.

"Damn it…" Cocotte was struggling to keep her barrier up, it was breaking up from the combined electrical interference both Steel and Kosh were making. No one could step out because they would risk being electrocuted, even though they were all powered up Cocotte still struggling to maintain the dimension. Kosh reeled his fist all the way back, and with a loud roar, he punched so hard that the entire bubble collapsed completely, the Pride Troopers having to attempt blocking out some currents with their ki alone. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough, pretty much everyone ended up getting horridly affected by the electricity in almost no time.

Kosh propelled himself real high into the air, and charged up a super attack that brightened the door colored sky. Steel clasped his hands together, every digit brought out a current that surged the surface of the ground, serving as a large scale power up for the mech that was about to throw down the final, fatal attack.

"Now, _heroes_ ," Steel's silver radiant eyes gleamed maliciously, "You cannot escape this grasp from the height that you being held at."

The electrical tendrils went around the five Troopers, painfully electrocuting their bodies but not enough to knock any of them out, prolonging the torture. The light from Kosh's attack disappeared, and Steel continued. "You will face death here in this deadened city. This is where you _end_." He stopped charging up the ground around him, and looked up at his mech subordinate with an evil sneer. "Kosh!"

… But Kosh wasn't there.

Steel frowned deeply, he still held the Pride Troopers in the air with the airborne reactor he created. He leaned to his right as if trying to get a better glimpse of the sky, and to his left, and then he blinked in confusion. "Uhh… Kosh?" He was up there just several seconds ago, how could he _possibly_ vanish into thin air that fast?

Without warning, a bullet-like object penetrated through the same reactor Steel had made; judging from how quickly it was gaining speed, this bullet has been falling for a long time, at least about a few miles above where he was. It shot right through a couple walls before hitting the gas outlet of a truck, causing the truck to explode into fiery bits behind Steel. The force of the bullet's speed cause the reactor to go haywire, releasing Tupper, Cocotte, Kahseral, Zoiray and Vuon from their grasp. The five hit the ground in thuds, as Steel looked up at the sky, or where the reactor was supposed to be.

"NO!" He looked frantically around, looking for the source of the bullet, or at least what he thought was a bullet. He then looked over to where the bullet stricken, and ran to the area after the dust had settled, leaving everyone else wincing at their bodies retaliation from the electricity, and looking over to where this dude was running off to.

It wasn't far from where he was, only about thirty feet behind his previous point, so when Steel moved the bits and pieces of concrete and debris off, he was surprised to see a weird looking inch-long capsule with…

"What the h- _KOSH?!"_

Oh, and Kosh's giant hundred-feet metal arse was sealed in it too.

Steel turned to give a vilifying look at the Pride Troopers, who were now standing and looking at where he was. "What sort of _magic gimmicks_ are you Troopers pulling off now?"

The five were confused as to what he was talking about, but that shouldn't stop them from taking care of the matter at hand. If they were to see the little capsule that Steel had found, they would have _known_ just what he meant…

Pushing the possible questions aside, Kahseral raised his hand before pulling it down with a fist. "You and your posse trashed this entire city for your own selfish gains. We will not allow this _injustice_ to stand!"

All Steel could do is glare at the Commander, the very last bits of his electrical fuselage were completely used up, and it would take a while to recharge them. And by a while, that meant _longer-than-punching-these-Troopers-into-oblivion_ long. So basically, at this point, he was defenseless.

But that didn't mean his mouth wasn't. "And? What can you _possibly_ do to me? You're all weakened to the point where none of you could do any of those fancy moves on me." Obviously, Steel was saying this to hide the fact that someone like Vuon could smack this dude and he'll cry out in pain. It sucks having all your granted power taken away from you.

"That doesn't mean anything for us." Cocotte held her hand up anyways to throw out a ki blast. The blast itself wasn't even that powerful, but Steel only managed to partially dodge it, the rest of it hit his side and made him wince audibly. Steel faltered a little holding his right abdomen, he made a tiny noise that sounded like he just got kicked in the balls and lost the bass in his voice for a nanosecond.

"Now, _villain_." As petty as it might seem to the common eye, Kahseral mocked Steel's earlier monologue while he had them trapped under his currents. He and the four Troopers walked closer to him simultaneously, Kahseral placed his hands on his hips. "You're nothing without your three subordinates, every plan you had has been foiled. Surrender while you have the chance."

Steel looked really, really offended at the _brashness_ of this hatted-Commander's tone. He slowly stood up, and angrily walked past the heroic quintet while scoffing loudly. "You really think I'm gonna just _kneel down_ and let you all take me?" He turned around completely to face all of them. "How delusional, I would slap _everyone single one_ of you Pride Troopers before you could even attempt to register the fact that I hit you." He keep talking as he was backing up, every single one of the Pride Troopers went oddly silent. "None of you _fucks_ could do anything to me, nobody in your circle do come close to-"

Steel's body legitimately froze the second he felt some rock hard body against his own back and head. He didn't move, he didn't blink, he didn't even look like he was _breathing_ , all he did was stare straight forward. For a moment, he raised his arm up to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating, and moved it a little behind him. The back of his hand did make contact with a taut and hard bicep, and that's when he realized this might just be _the_ only Grey of the universe _right behind him_ , the actual unbeatable hero… right in front of his _back_.

Everything in Steel's face screamed that he may have shat himself just now.

The five Pride Troopers looked at Steel, and then up at Jiren, and then back at Steel. The man was now tensing every muscle in his body, and then he swallowed hard. " _Ohh_ …" He quickly shut his mouth, what else can you possibly say after shit talking for so long and then having some _universe-buster_ tier dude right behind you? What do you, a brave villain in that matter, do at that very moment? That's right, you _don't back the fuck down_.

Perhaps… perhaps fear breeds some of the best _worst_ instincts in a few of us, yes?

Steel slowly looked down at his left hand, barely moving his face as he did so. He angled his hand, and then looked down at the ground, feigning defeat for a moment. Suddenly, in a swift turn and a quick warcry, Steel held his palm out and spun around, purposely slapping the Grey's upper bicep. Jiren didn't even move from the contact, he didn't even react, he just looked down at the crafty Steel who looked mildly confused. Then, Steel cocked his neck back, and looked down at his hand.

It was _broken_.

Steel held his wrist as he screamed at the sudden pain that wracked his arm. The rest of the Pride Troopers exchanged awed looks at the trepidity, and stupidity, of Steel. " _AHHH, HOW THE FUCK_?!"

Jiren kept his arms crossed. "Fool."

Vuon raised a brow while blinking. "...Did he just slap Jiren's arm and break his own hand?"

"Yup. He did." Zoiray nodded slowly. Cocotte sighed and shook her head.

Tupper smiled. "Another meme in the books, guys."

Cocotte leaned a litte. "Did Jiren even move?"

"Nope." Vuon shook his head.

Steel was too busy knelt over with his left hand held to talk anymore shit now. He was looking down at the ground while yelping in pain, both Jiren's boots were visible to him. He continued leaning forward on his knees until his head touched the ground, all the while making noises of pain as he did so.

"Get up."

Reality snapped Steel right back as he paused to look up at the Grey in front of him. Steel shook, the other Pride Troopers were lowkey smirking hard over this guy's betaness. Steel brought his ass right the heck up, because what else are you supposed to do when Jiren _orders_ you to do something? _Go against it?_

Steel couldn't even look him in the eyes. Jiren didn't need to put in effort to fully break the pride in this electric man's bravado; he didn't beat it out of him, he didn't even move from his spot. His deep, smooth voice showed seldom irritation at the man before him, but it was serious, and all he said was one word:

" _Surrender_."

And just like that, Steel dropped to his knees, looking more defeated than a world class cricketer. Kahseral, Zoiray, every single one of the Pride Troopers seriously did not expect to see Jiren here at all. Kahseral approached and grabbed Steel by the wrists, of someone who created a mess of this magnitude, they should be sentenced.

"Come with me." He pulled Steel up to his feet and looked at the fellow silent Grey. "Thank you, Jiren." The Pride Troopers gave their bits of gratitude for Jiren stepping in so quickly, albeit they didn't know he was around the area for quite a while.

Which made Vuon question… "Jiren, were you the one who threw that metal guy into a building?"

He nodded.

Kahseral was busy sending him off to the global police of this particular planet, which left the four Troopers alone with Jiren. Zoiray frowned. "Where did he even go?"

"I sealed him."

" _What?"_ Tupper's eyes went wide. "How'd you seal him _that_ fast?"

"He was in the air." Jiren said, which further solidified that bullet-thingy that flew down and saved the Troopers. "I took him and sealed him."

We can't ask how Jiren just took some hundred-and-then-some feet metal dude and just _sealed_ him with such finesse, that would be too many questions in one sitting and we already know Jiren gives some of the simplest, elusive answers.

The police force of this planet came by as the Troopers went around looking for any possible civilians who haven't left the area, as well as notifying the city ministers of that villains being quarantined. There were a few, in which the citizens showed much gratitude in thanking and praising them. Their work here, was done.

A relay ship was brought to take the Troopers back to a base after they had finished. Zoiray, Vuon, Tupper, Cocotte and Kahseral were about to enter the ship before realizing that they were missing another person.

"Wait," Vuon turned around to see Jiren walking in the opposite direction of the ship's stairs, "Jiren, where are you going?"

He did stop, and turned his head to the side to address Vuon. "I'm leaving the planet."

"Are you gonna go meditate?" Tupper asked. "We can just drop you off at another far away planet."

"No."

Was all Jiren said at first, which left the others very confused. So the Grey decided to stipulate on behalf of why he didn't want to be taxied to a rogue planet. "The ship is too slow."

...Okay, most spaceships in Universe 11 travel at _least_ 216 million C's; to put that in perspective the slowest ship would take around 4 hours to travel across _our_ Milky Way galaxy, from one end to another. This spaceship was _hypersonic_ , meaning it goes above 1 billion C's and takes less than an hour to go across our galaxy. The ship was about 2000 times faster than light… and that's _too slow_?

"Uhh… well, alright." Tupper blinked. With that, Jiren flew off and into the atmosphere, out of the planet and into space. The quintet looked up momentarily, and then looked at each other and collectively shrugged.

Zoiray looked down at his watch. "You guys wanna play a game when we get back to Netfiss?" The five did consider the idea, and Vuon nodded.

"Alright then." He completely entered the ship. "I call shotgun on first player."

"I came up with the idea first!" Zoiray's little feet stomped on the ground. "I _automatically_ get dibs on being the first player."

"Why do you guys wanna be the first player so bad?" Cocotte shook her head. "It's not that serious."

Both Vuon and Zoiray, since they are two out of the three members that play video games, turned around at the same time with defensive looks. " _Yes it is!_ "

Tupper chuckled, scratching his mustache. "Let them be. They'll solve it amongst themselves when we get there."

"No, this must be handled _now._ " Vuon and Zoiray looked at each other, as if this was a WWE match they approached one another and got into similar crouching stances. Then, they both raised an arm… before intensely _rock, paper, scissoring_ each other over this squabble.

Kahseral shook his head with a chuckle, looking down and tapping against his watch. "I'll call Dyspo and tell him to load up the console. I'm sure the rest of the guys would love to hear about what occurred today..."

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **I didn't even realize I lowkey referenced a character from Akame ga kill… Is that the right name? I dunno, you tell me.**

 **Bruh, okay… you know what's ironic? Steel claimed he'd slap everyone before they could react to it, but then slapped Jiren and took too long to realize his hand was broken.** _ **Boi…**_

 **This chapter took quite a while to come out. I've just been dealing with things that had me down in the drain for a while. It's not gone, but it will be.**

 **See you in the next one!**


	13. How Many Holes Are There In A Straw?

First of all, has been glitchy for the past few days now, this chapter is a bit overdue but I figured to use an existing doc to bring this chapter forward. And, in regards to a particular review, I think I can get behind making a chapter about Toppo's training as an upcoming God of Destruction. I'll see what will unfold, because the next upcoming chapters are reserved for something else. x )

Okay, if you have any idea/knowledge of any of those 'is water wet' videos and you can't stand them... Do not read this chapter. I even underlined and italicized that, so you can't clock me for anything. Don't do it, because this is gonna be filled with those existential questions that sound stupid as hell but somehow make people think.

My triple digit-IQ ass can't help but entertain this idea.

We have six Troopers in the building; Toppo, Dyspo, Kahseral, Vuon, Zoiray, and Kunshi. In a base located in Netfiss, it was well in the middle of the night and everybody else was in their own respective homes. These men were in one of the bases, and they all didn't want to sleep. So a question was raised to jog the gears in their mind.

.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.

How Many Holes Are There in a Straw?

.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.

It was dead in the night of Netfiss, at around 34:65 and a few of the Pride Troopers were at their own respective homes either sleeping or sitting in a void. It won't be until perhaps eighteen more hours later as to when the sun rises, and when everything on this dang planet wakes up. Those few Pride Troopers took the smarter route and got the rest they needed.

The other few? Yeah, they didn't rest at all. They stayed up all night doing random things and watching random shows and whatnot.

The six guys were scattered around the main floor of the base. Two of them, Vuon and Kunshi, were sitting on different countertops in the kitchen, Dyspo was upside down laying on a couch, and Toppo was reclined back with his fluffy blue socked feet (don't say shit about his sleep getup because he has one of the freshest attires to sleep with, second to Vuon) on a footrest. Kahseral was sitting in almost the same fashion as Toppo except his feet were on the carpeted ground, and Zoiray was sitting on the table with his phone in front of him with a hand propped up against his cheek while he was looking at something from a friend, smiling every once in a while.

"Yo you guys," Vuon came out of the kitchen, tossing his phone upwards and catching it with one hand before sliding it into his sweatpants pocket, "What do you plan on doing tomorrow?"

"I dunno man." Dyspo shrugged. "I have no kind of plans."

"I'm totally free tomorrow, so…" Kunshi exited the kitchen as well with a cup of beverage and a straw in one hand, looking between the men in the lounge room. Everyone pretty much had the same reply, with was either 'yeah' or 'same'. As deadened as the room seemed with these unfit night owls sitting together, it wouldn't take much to get a rise out of somebody in the middle of the night.

Zoiray waved his hand. "We'll figure this out later, to be honest. I'm kinda braindead." Everyone shared the same sentiment, and the room went back to being completely silent. The only noise that everyone could pick up was the sound of Kunshi sipping on whatever he was drinking, and Toppo scratching his beard momentarily. And then, Zoiray snorted so loud it made the other men frown at him.

"You guys," he raised a hand, but was still snickering over whatever he was looking at on his phone, "Get a load of this…"

Dyspo craned his neck up to look at the tiny Trooper on the table. "What is it?"

He was too busy chuckling to say what he had to say, but he calmed down and shook his head. "So there is this question going around right? 'Does a straw… have one or two holes'? Geez, man." He started laughing again.

They all paused a for a moment, only for everyone to crack up at the idea. Toppo shook his head. "That's such a stupid question." He giggled a little bit before shrugging the topic off. "A straw obviously has one hole."

Zoiray blinked, looked up from his phone, and looked at Toppo. "No... it has two holes."

"It has one hole." Vuon slowly looked at the smaller Pride Trooper.

"A straw has two holes, Vuon." Dyspo blinked and looked carefully at Vuon.

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

Is it mentioned that they were kinda braindead sometime earlier? Yeah.

"How does a straw have two holes?" Kunshi raised his shoulders in confusion. "That makes no sense."

"Kunshi." Dyspo turned his attention to his brodie, sat up on his couch normally, and said his name again. "Kunshi..."

"Look," Kunshi looked at Dyspo, "A straw obviously has one hole."

"Bro… how can you see one hole in a straw?" Dyspo blinked at him. "It legit has two holes."

Vuon chimed in, seeing that Kunshi took his side. "No it doesn't."

Dyspo placed his hands on his hips and leaned forward. "Prove it; prove it right now."

"Well alright, then." Kunshi supplemented Vuon; he snatched his straw out of his own drink and placed his drink on the coffee table. "See this straw, right? Look at it…" Kunshi held it and rotated the straw while pointing at the ends of it, as if that alone proved his point. "One hole. Nuff said."

Dyspo narrowed his eyes. "You didn't even say anything."

"I don't have to, only an idiot would think a straw has two holes."

"Are you calling me an idiot?"

Kunshi gave him an elusive answer. "I'm not trying to."

"You two can continue debating how stupid the both of you are," Kahseral said, "Rather than taking the time to explain to explain to them how a straw has one hole and not two."

"Kahseral…" Toppo shook his head slightly at the Commander. "How in the hell do you see two holes… in one straw?"

"Because-" Kahseral stood up and went to Kunshi's poor drink and took the straw for demonstration purposes. He also grabbed the vase that was right next to his seat as well and confronted Toppo. "You see this vase?"

"Yes."

"How many holes does this vase have?" Kahseral pointed to said vase, and Toppo answered nonchalantly.

"One."

"Alright then, so how many holes does a straw have?"

Toppo stretched his arms out in emphasis. "One."

Kahseral blinked and frowned. "How?"

"A straw just has one hole that goes all throughout." Toppo took the straw and rotated it around. "It doesn't need an end like a vase does."

"Then how is that one hole as well?"

"Do you see this one hole that a straw has?" Toppo pointed again to the straw hole. "That's one hole, it goes all the way down through, all the way until it ends as one complete hole."

Kahseral made a scoffing sound. "Oh, so this vase has an incomplete hole, huh?"

"You know that's not what I meant." Toppo shook his head.

"How is it one hole all throughout, when a vase has one opening and that's also considered one hole?" Dyspo articulated. "By that logic, the vase would have half a hole."

"You're not understanding my point, Dyspo!" Toppo looked at the hare. "A straw has one opening and one ending and they're connected, it's one hole."

"What sense," Dyspo took it upon himself to dramatic walk towards Toppo with his arms out, "does that make?"

Toppo placed his hands on his hip. "It makes a lot of sense."

"Alright, no. If I'm drinking through a straw right? And I suck on one end and my drink comes from the other-" Dyspo stopped what he was saying and pinched the bridge of his nose when he saw Kunshi's face. Kunshi nodded slowly with a shitty grin, and Dyspo opened one eye to look at him. "Shut up, Kunshi."

"I didn't say anything."

Vuon did though; he leaned to the side with a sus expression. "Oooh."

"Shush it." He raised a finger at his brodie and Vuon. "You get the fucking point; I drink through a straw, one hole for the input, another hole for the output, the shit has two holes."

Vuon narrowed his eyes. "It's one hole though."

Dyspo came up to Vuon. "How is it one hole if the juice is coming from the other hole?"

"Because it's one fucking waypoint with two different ends. It's still one hole." Vuon said.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are fuc- it's coming through two ends, so it's two holes." Kahseral swung his hands as if he came through to end this whole debate once for all.

But he didn't. In fact, everybody is getting fired up over this topic, he did the exact opposite.

"Kahseral." Toppo leaned back. "If I have one straw, then that's one hole."

"It can't be one hole, you can't sip through a straw with one hole." Kahseral crossed his arms at Toppo.

Toppo sat up all the sudden. "How is it two holes then?!"

"If you cover the end of a straw that's one hole, but look, if you remove the cover on the end, then that's two holes!"

"Okay so you're saying that a hole has to have an end in order to be one dang hole." Kunshi looked at Kahseral. "This straw doesn't have an end, it doesn't need one to be consider one hole."

"That makes no sense!" Zoiray flailed. "How does a vase have one hole, with it having an end, and a straw has one hole when there's two fucking openings? You just contradicted your own argument."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!" Now Zoiray jumped up to grab the straw from Toppo. "You have two openings bro then that's two holes!"

Toppo chimed in. "No it's not! It's one hole, it just has an opening and an ending."

"So how does that validate the vase then, hmm? Hmm?" Zoiray leaned forward with his hands on his hips. "A vase has one hole, one opening. A straw has two holes because both ends could be an opening or an ending."

"But that would mean it'd have to be separated if it's two holes." Vuon stood up now, this case was getting heated.

"It is separated."

Vuon's eyes narrowed down at Zoiray. "I'm talking about the hole itself, not the openings, you nutbar."

"Bro, how is it one hole? How is it one single hole? This straw," Zoiray circled his finger around the straw, "This a'here thing has two holes, there's one hole on each end."

"No no no no no no, no." Toppo shook his head and arms. "Look, look at this for a minute, just for a minute, okay?"

"I'm looking." Dyspo said, boldly making his defiance apparent.

"I'm listening." Zoiray tapped his foot on the ground sassily.

"What do you have to say for this now huh, Toppo?" Kahseral crossed his arms. "What'd'you have to say?"

"Let's say I jump into a straw, right?" Toppo stood as if he was about to pseudo-jump for the sake of emphasis.

Kahseral frowned. "How are you gonna jump into the straw?"

Toppo instantly caught the sub Kahseral threw at him, because Toppo's big ass can't fit through no damn straw. "Shut up." The others snickered quietly but Toppo continued. "If I jump through a straw, I'm jumping through one hole, not two."

Dyspo raised a hand at Toppo. "But you'll end up outside of the other hole and that's two holes."

Toppo swung a look at him. "It's still one hole, Dyspo!"

Dyspo was clapping to every word he said, he was pretty damn animated. "How? How is it still one hole?"

"Because if I jump through one straw, that's one hole. Period. I can't jump through- how am I jump through one straw and jump through two holes?"

Dyspo shrugged. "Because a straw has two holes."

"Did you not hear my proof earlier?" Vuon stood up, articulating dramatically while proving his point again. "You got one hole, right? If you put a hole through the wall and it comes out the other way that's still one hole."

"How?" Zoiray leaned forward to look at Vuon. "How, Vi?"

"It's one hole with two different sides. Two different sides to one hole."

"Right." Zoiray clapped. "Therefore, two holes."

"No!" Vuon flailed. "It's still one because both sides are connected through one hole. If you jump through one side of the hole, you still jump through one hole."

"One side? Okay, okay, so how do you have one side there, and one side here," Dyspo was referring to the straw he took from Zoiray when he said this, "and still consider it one hole? It's two sides, so two holes."

"It's one hole with two sides!" Vuon said. Now he snatched the straw from Dyspo and covered one end with his palm. "Look if I cover this straw that's one hole, but if put another hole right here, it's still gonna be one hole."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Dyspo put his hand behind his ear as if he didn't hear what Vuon just said. "What was that? 'If I put another hole right there'... You just said another hole, including that hole; TWO!"

"It's one damn hole, Dyspo!" Kunshi apprehended his brodie.

"It's two!"

"It's one!" Vuon argued.

"Two!" Kahseral chimed in.

"It's two damn friggin holes, the three of you." Zoiray raised his arms.

"You know what? You know what?" Toppo waved his hands, as if saying something super serious.

"What? What?" Kahseral looked at him.

"I'm gonna get Jiren on this. Right. Now." He said the last word while tapping against his watch to contact his friend.

"Why are you calling Jiren?" Zoiray frowned.

Vuon answered for the leader. "Because he knows the answer to everything."

"No he doesn't." Dyspo said, before showing a bit of uncertainty in what he said because… you can't prove that. Even Jiren himself would say he doesn't know everything, but these guys…

"He knows just enough to settle this debate." Toppo sat back down, and the entire room settled with everyone else sitting down as well, waiting to hear that bassy deep voice that they were all familiar with.

"What are the chances of him answering?" Vuon shrugged. "It's late, he's probably meditating somewhere as we speak." Toppo was so bent on getting this man on contact, and he stopped to acknowledge what Vuon said.

"Let's just hope he does." Toppo said, and they all did hope, even though everyone shared the belief that he was just meditating right now.

And Jiren actually wasn't meditating at this time, he was on an empty planet laid back against it's grassy meadow-like surface looking up at the star-filled night sky. His arms were propped behind his head and his left knee was propped up as well, the true signature position for relaxation. The wind felt soft and cool against his grey skin, and his eyes were sort of litted from the calmness of the atmosphere around him.

And then that Pride Trooper watch of his started to ring.

Jiren's eyes went up in slight bit of annoyance because that sound broke the silence horridly, but he sat up to look back at the gadget. It was right next to a tree that was a few meters away from where he was, and assuming that this was a call for help, Jiren shifted to stand up. And then he paused; Toppo did say that nothing had been occurring for the entire day so far, just twenty minutes ago.

Just before Zoiray brought up the enlightening debate about a straw.

Then again, anything outrageous could pop up at any given time, albeit that would be rare if someone powerful were to show up on their radar on such short notice. Usually, threats that he would have to quell would mean that the others absolutely could not tackle down the foe at hand, and he needed to step in. And he just recently finished meditating, he didn't sense precipitous danger within twelve thirteenths of the Universe and onward. So he's weighed all of that out, and came to the conclusion that this must be something outside of the Pride Troopers workflow.

Jiren narrowed his eyes; he already had a feeling that there was going to be something stupid on the other end of that beeping watch.

Presumably Toppo was at the Pride Troopers' base in that planet. If he were to be correct, it was dead in the middle of the night at Netfiss, and the only reason that other conclusion lingered in his head was because of the last time Toppo called him at this time of night;

"Toppo."

The second Jiren answered the call, he heard bits of chuckles from the other end, he knew that was Toppo laughing like that. He then heard the sound of a liquid being poured into, presumably, a glass, before Toppo popped a question to him.

"Water you doing?"

Jiren paused, there was silence on his end minus Toppo's growing laughter, and then Jiren ended the call while shaking his head in disappointment.

But just to make sure his conclusion was correct, he went to see that it was Toppo calling him. This might hold some merit to the idea that whatever he called Jiren for would degrade the Grey's intelligence meagerly. But he decided to answer, just to make sure.

On the other end, the call relay ended and all the guys in the room were meant with silence on Jiren's end for a few seconds. And then they heard a deep, but patient, "Toppo."

Toppo exhaled. "Jiren, hello, umm… We need your help."

"He needs your help." Kunshi said, just loud enough for Jiren to hear and for Toppo to frown at him for backseat chatting while he's on the phone.

Jiren frowned, looking down at his watch. "What is it?"

"Just… just come here." Toppo leaned back in seat. "It's important."

And Jiren, being the man of knowing before enacting, reinstated his question again because it wasn't answered. "But what is it?"

"Just come, you'll find out when you arrive!" Toppo said, before reconciling his voice. "I'm sorry for disrupting your meditation."

If Jiren wanted to meditate, he would keep this watch very very far away from his person. "I wasn't meditating."

"Oh, really?" Toppo frowned, and the other shared the same sentiment as well. "What were you doing?"

Jiren gave Toppo utmost detail about his entertaining, thrilling, adrenaline-pumped lifestyle. "I was laying in the meadow of an abandoned planet."

"...Oh…" Toppo's gaze was downcast. They should have expected something underwhelming. "Well, you need to come by our base in Netfiss. The main floor."

He could just ask Jiren the question over his own watch, but there was a 9,999,999 percent chance out of 10 that Jiren would just hang up. And also, Toppo is tired, you really think he's gonna do the most logical thing even if it led to Jiren ignoring him for at least a week?

If you said yes to that, refer to the fact that these six men are arguing about the properties of a straw. Give them a little slack, they're tired out of their wits.

Jiren blinked. He didn't know what this particular problem of Toppo's is, but it obviously didn't involve a villain or criminal of any sort. "Fine." The Grey then ended the call, and the guys looked upon each other.

"So what if Jiren says that it has two holes?" Zoiray said. "Whaddaya gonna do then?"

"It's obvious that Jiren would say a straw has one hole." Vuon argued.

Kahseral cocked his neck back. "How?"

"Because that makes the most sense." Kunshi said, he took the straw from the coffee table since Dyspo placed it there. "This? One hole."

"Don't make me get started on this again..." Kahseral shook his head.

"It hasn't even ended yet." Vuon crossed his arms. "Just submit to the fact that a straw has one hole. There is no way it has two, it's one hole. Point, blank, period."

"I swear… you three," Zoiray gestured to Kunshi, Vuon and Toppo, "Are busting my balls right now."

And of course, Vuon had to throw shade with the quickness. "What balls?"

"Excuse you?" Zoiray craned his neck forward.

"Why would we bust your balls? That's weird as fuck."

"It's figurative speech, you goofball!" Zoiray jumped right out of his seat, and Dyspo was chuckling over the name he just dubbed Vuon.

"You three think you're correct, huh?" Toppo swiped his arm dramatically. "Just wait; once Jiren comes and he should be here several minutes from now, you will all se-"

The door to the main floor slid open to reveal the buff Grey alien, who already had a displeased straight look on his face. Jiren had looked at everyone single one of the men in the room, at all of their faces…

He would've came to the conclusion that these guys got hit by a truck because they looked so worn out.

"What is it, Toppo?"

The guys were all silent… and in shock. Dyspo turned all the way around in his seat to look at Jiren. "...What planet were you on?"

"Planet Hind."

Kahseral's eyes were wide. "That planet is in the outskirts of the galaxy." Which meant that this man Jiren flew from the outside of the galaxy to Netfiss in less than a minute, and Netfiss was very close to the center of its galaxy.

But Jiren nodded as if he just took the bus to get here.

"Well damn… ummm…" Vuon scratched the back of his head, and Jiren approached the vicinity in which the men were sitting.

"What is the problem here?" Jiren was internally debating against reinstating his question, seeing that they all looked like they would drop dead at any moment, but Toppo shifted in his seat to look at his friend, and to speak his piece.

"I need you, Jiren, to educate these three on behalf of a question."

"You need the education, okay?" Kahseral shot a look at Toppo. "We're the ones who are correct on this topic."

Vuon licked his pointer finger, and raised it up eloquently with his eyes closed. "Wrong."

"See?" Toppo said. "So I'll stretch the question to you now, since you would know the answer to end this damn conflict."

Jiren looked to his sides before furrowing his brows at Toppo. "What is the question?"

Toppo took a deep breath while using his hands to articulate. "Does a straw have one or two holes? Because those three think that it has two holes."

"It does have two holes!" Dyspo said. "DO you not see one on one side and one on the other, that's two holes!"

"It's two different sides to one hole!" Vuon swiped his arms. "Period!"

"How does one hole of a shape have two different sides?!" Kahseral frowned at Vuon, and then they all started back into their heated argument. At this point, the main floor was filled with multiple voices going off at each other, the cacophonous argument was as fierce as it was before Jiren had arrived.

And speaking of Jiren in this case, all he did was just… stare in astonishment over the absolute stupidity of, not the question itself, but how they were all getting riled up over this itty-bitty topic. Two giant black eyes looked at every single arguing fellow Pride Trooper, and his arms were sort of slumped to his sides over all this.

It hadn't even been a minute since he had arrived here, and he was already done with this shit.

Jiren took the straw which was now in Toppo's hand, and turned it so that his own palm was facing him. He ejected just enough concentrated ki heat to his hands, and in the wake of a very bright light, the straw was instantly vaporized into nothing.

That shut every single man in that room up. They looked at the more-than-done Grey whose hand was now empty. "The straw now has no holes." He cross both of his arms. "You all need sleep."

Silence filled the room again, and it could seem that Jiren did end the debate once and for all.

Except he didn't, because they were all so burnt out from arguing and staying up too late that they didn't immediately get what Jiren meant by that. So Dyspo had to ask… "How does a straw have no holes?"

"A straw has no holes?" Vuon frowned. "That makes less sense than it having two holes."

"Two holes to a straw makes more sense than one!" Dyspo shot a look at Vuon.

"...That is not what I meant." Jiren refrained from slapping his own forehead and facepalming, he just closed his eyes. "This shouldn't be something you all have to argue over. Go and sleep."

Zoiray furrowed his brows at Jiren. "But Jiren-"

"Go and sleep."

Toppo popped in. "But answer the questi-"

"Go. And sleep."

The guys sighed, everyone on both sides was defeated. And now that Jiren brought it up, random placed yawns were starting to arise. Dyspo was the first to voice what everyone else was starting to realize. "Now that I think about it…" he stopped to yawn again. "I am pretty tired."

"That took all the energy out of me." Kahseral shook his tired little head.

"Same." Zoiray was even stretching. At least they did start this topic, otherwise they would have stayed up with too much energy to sleep and not enough energy to do anything else, and that is the worst state anyone could be in. Jiren opened his eyes, not faltering his authoritative stance.

"This is why you called me here?" In fact, he was now addressing the leader of the group, who stood up and was about to leave.

All Toppo could do is give him a sheepish smile. "...Yes…"

Jiren gave him a long, serious look. And then he straight faced, and then he looked like he was sternly frowning. "Don't ever do such a thing again."

Because staring at a starry night sky while relaxing in a grassy meadow was of actual substance to Jiren's stagnant life, and things that interrupted that ought to be either urgent or important. And both those words are synonymous.

"Sorry." Toppo scratched the back of his neck. Jiren regarded his apology, and turned around as the men were all leaving to go and sleep, finally. "Umm, goodnight. And thanks for the uhh…The input."

Jiren have a side-eye glance to see them all exit the room, including Toppo in his giant softie attire. Once everyone was out, he inhaled long enough to exhale a barely audible annoyed sigh. Well, not an annoyed sigh, but more like a 'How the hell did I get into this' sigh. And then he shook his head…

Just why did he decide to come here…

Dyspo and Vuon shared a room, with beds respectively across one another. Since they were both tired, they legitimately suplexed themselves right into bed.

"Vuon…"

The dinosaur barely opened his exposed eye, his face buried in his own pillow. "Yeah?"

Dyspo's eyes were closed. "Goodnight, man."

Vuon made a sound in acknowledgement, fixing himself up so that his blanket was over him at this point. He snuggled into his warm, cozy bed and closed his eyes.

"And by the way…"

Vuon opened his eyes again to see Dyspo lazily lift his head up as if it was as dense as uranium. His eyes were lidded and mostly closed as he raised a finger tiredly, but with the clarification that he would yield in his statement. "A straw... has two holes." And with that, his head lolled right back on his bed and his eyes shut completely, leaving Vuon to shake his head and straight face at him.

"Screw you."

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

If you actually read this whole thing… I commend you, for dealing with this. I wonder if Jiren did that because this question was too stupid to even deem an answer to, or if he didn't know the answer himself and decided to end the topic on behalf of that. It would be funny if the latter was true, ahem.

I'm not about ask any of you what your thoughts are on this topic, for the sake of minimizing arguments on here. I could, but I'm not that evil.

But I wanna see the amount of facepalm-y comments on behalf of this. I won't even apologize for it either :).


	14. Amorous Week Shambles

**This… is a long chapter… Get ready, because I counted the amount of pages of this chapter… and it's** _ **twenty eight.**_

 _ **Yup**_ **.**

 **Here's the thing about this chapter: I was thinking about posting this, Chapter 14, on the 14th of February as an ode to Valentine's Day but… looking at how the plot of this is, that would be unfitting. You know why?**

 **Because there is two parts to this particular story.**

 **I know I said I wasn't going to make chapters based on consecutive events, but** _ **this**_ **story is quite lengthy and it's better to break it into two chapters, where the second chapter will be on Valentine's Day, because of cliffhangers and because I'm evil. Hehe…**

 **Now, description time: There is this** _ **fairy cupidress**_ **, roaming around Universe 11 on this particular week. In the planet of Netfiss, they have an entire week (9 days) dedicated to the times of love and shit like that. Targeting a certain individual, she unleashes a bout of energy blasts filled with nothing but love induction near Netfiss, but… things don't turn out very well…**

 **And the next nine days are going to be an absolute** _ **hell fest.**_

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Amorous Week Shambles**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

In a tiny bubble planet, the sound of tittering can be heard through the sweet little meadow of pink grass. Almost all of the atmosphere was littered with 'happy colors': there were yellows, baby blues and greens, and definitely pink, pink was everywhere because it as that time of the month.

Near the planet that the cupidress had circulated her bubble planet upon, there was a weeklong holiday occurring where couples and weds alike celebrated their union with one another. This particular planet was Netfiss, and she was busy charging up her _amour sonare_ the night before this week would commence.

"Oh, the world looks so bubbly already!" Her pinkened cheeks were smooshed by her little palms pressing against her face as she extracted the energy from the planet. It radiated nothing but admiration and adoration of all kinds, it made the entire atmosphere of her bubble warm and inviting. "It won't take long before I completely take this and use it _juuuust_ for who I need!" Oh, this wasn't for some nefarious deed of hers, her little cinnamon bunned heart could never think of harming anyone with such powerful energy.

No, this was for _one_ single individual. One that she's set her sights on for _many, many_ years now.

Belmod, the God of Destruction, was currently in Netfiss with the Pride Troopers, thought he won't be there for long. The cupidress amassed a large amount of loving energy to hit him with it, and once he is affected she will fly down and look him directly in the eye, and he will fall in love with her. That's how this energy bomb, which looked like a bunch of pink psi-balls, works; once someone is hit, the _first_ person they immediately see is the person that they will lock their hearts onto. And maybe something more if the exposure to said person is long enough…

"This…" she held her hands above the pink, pulsing ball. It was big enough to fit in her lap, and she herself was tiny being only three feet tall. "This will be enough to make Lord Belmod fall for me. The timing is _just_ right with all of the sensuality this ball has been sitting." She pulled her yellow-pink hair back, the energy was getting brighter. "It's overwhelming… quite enough to make even _me_ fall into it."

It was true, she was already getting pulled into the energy's rapture, and that was when she knew she had to send it out, now. Of course, she had a little portal open that was miniscule enough to imitate a simple atom, but she can see the room in which Belmod was in at the moment, and he was sitting with his legs spread reclined against a sofa chatting with the large mole-humanoid known as Toppo. She aimed her energy just 45 degrees upward with both of her hands against its ejector, and waited for Toppo to leave. The second he got up and exited the room, the smile on her rosy lips got brighter.

"Here we go!" She let her hands go as the ejector shot the energy ball out and into space, her body went flying several feet backwards, landing onto her soft, bouncy bed. The cupidress giddily chuckled, the idea of Lord Belmod being her court was going to become a reality, and _this_ … this plan will definitely not fail.

You really think this plan would fail? Do you really think so? Well guess what…

 _It did._

The cupidress stood back up and danced back to where the ejector was in pure joy, and she looked out into space and used her portal to zoom in on where this energy ball was going. It was able to target the individual that it was set on, and it can move through walls and liquids as well. She left for a while, and then came back just to follow its trail; the ball took around 5 hours to get into Netfiss' atmosphere, and the second it did…

The portal started fizzing, and then the energy ball started to split.

"Wait, wait a minute…" she frowned, and then shook her head. "T-that's not supposed to happe-"

She didn't get to finish her statement. All she saw were the balls splitting into smaller randomized balls, all of which now heading in the very base where Belmod was but not at Belmod anymore, because the connection between them was severed completely. She couldn't see them any more after that, because the entire portal camera she was using had exploded, and sent her flying right out of her little abode.

Vuon stretched, it was his morning routine to stretch out his muscles before going on and doing the things he did during the day. Once he finished, he left his room and went downstairs and into the large living room of the base, where… only Kettol was. Everyone else was probably asleep, in their houses, in the main lobby, or sitting on a cliff or some shit.

"Morning."

Kettol turned around, he was eating some breakfast and like a selfish prick, he only made enough for himself. "Morning to you."

Vuon continued walking over until he saw just what was on Kettol's plate, and then he stopped to point. "...Is that _all_ for you?"

Kettol looked down, and shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Is there any more?"

"There is," Kettol threw an orange bite into his mouth and smirked, "But you gotta make it yourself."

Vuon shook his head. " _Dick_."

"My bad, you woke up too late." Kettol smiled. "Besides…" he stopped to chew for a moment, "if you wanted it so bad, you could've just asked me to make you some."

 _Wooow_ , Vuon thought. " _You know…_ Okay fine, can you make me some?"

Kettol paused for a moment and then shook his head. "I can't. I'm eating right now."

" _Real shit?_ "

"Okay, okay, I'm on my way. Hold your dino-horse, please." Kettol placed his plate down and went to follow Vuon into the kitchen. He and Vuon did chat for a bit as he decided to pull out all the stuff to make the breakfast dish. Kettol stopped momentarily, realizing that he was only one doing something in this entire kitchen, and he turned to face Vuon. "So you're not going to help me?"

Vuon straight faced. "It's your treat, you arse. I don't even how to make that stuff."

"The least you can do is _help_ with the little stuff, instead of just sitting there." Kettol shook his head. "The nerve…"

Obviously, Kettol was fucking with him, and Vuon was too. All he did was chuckle and shift a little in his stool chair, crossing his arms over the table with a smirk on his face. It wasn't long before he smelled the lingering scent of green onions and schreudan oil (schreudan oil is Netfiss' sesame oil, and y'all _know_ how good sesame oil is with anything), seeing that Kettol was busy flipping a green onion pancake over the clean slated pan.

It also wasn't long until he felt his weird pang on his back, like right where his midsection would be, very close to his lungs and heart. It didn't hurt or anything, it just felt really weird, like a tiny push or something minute, and almost instantly his hands and feet started to get warm. He frowned and turned around, thinking something had hit him and as he did so his head would swing in the direction of where Kettol was. He stopped his search once that happened, and looked at the other Pride Trooper who started talking about something.

"...I think this week is gonna be one of those _annoying_ weeks, you know." Kettol removed the second pancake, and was now onto the third one. "Pretty sure we're all gonna be here for the next nine days, just in case something goes wrong around here." Kettol really didn't think anything would be in place for them either, weirdly enough. They were all busy bodies, but this amour week thing would render most of them free. He lifted the last pancake and placed it on the pan. He then took the schreudan oil pouch (they come in pouches) and was trying to open with but had minor difficulty doing so at first.

"You know what, Kettol." Vuon stood up and approached Kettol calmly. "I'll help you."

"Bro, I'm about to finish." Kettol side eyed him before turning back to the little pouch. "You can chill for now."

Vuon shrugged, and took the schreudan pouch from Kettol's hand. As he did so, the dinosaur's hand brushed against Kettol's in a weird way, making Kettol frown at first. But then he dismissed for minuity. "I could have opened that."

"I'll do it instead, man." Vuon opened the pouch with ease, and sprinkled the oil on top of the pancake itself just like how Kettol did so until the pouch was empty. He placed it down on the counter and looked at Kettol, whose gaze was on the pancake. "Done."

Lowkey, Kettol wanted to make three and take one to eat because he's fat like that, but Vuon was already here so he can't put that plan to fruition. "Great, great. You made my work here easier by 1 percent." He looked at Vuon and paused, and then cocked his neck back...

 _Why is he looking at me all intensely and shit?_

Vuon smiled, but kept his face downcast while he went to stand behind Kettol and away from the fire. That whole time, he had this weird smirk on his face and Kettol had to follow him with his eyes just so he won't do anything… strange, because that was the type of smile you throw at someone when you're trying to spit game at them. Vuon leaned against the counter and crossed his arms, and Kettol decided to continue what he was doing.

"Annnd, everything is done." Kettol turned off the fire once he took the last pancake off. "There, now you can let me eat in peace."

"Thanks…"

Alright, what's up with Vuon's voice now? He suddenly is really calm and collected, well… he's almost always like that neutrally but now it's just a weird kind of calm, especially because he was reaching for the plate and getting his face a little too close to Kettol as he did so. "Umm…"

"What?"

Vuon's face was inches away from Kettol's. Purple eyes over here staring into Kettol's damn _soul_ , like... "Can you move?"

"Oh," Vuon chuckled, and took his plate with a smile, "Sorry." He then went to sit down and he passed Kettol as he did so. Kettol could have sworn he felt this dude's shoulder brush against his upper back just now, and slowly turned around as Vuon sat down and took his first bite of the pancake. "This tastes great."

Kettol crossed his arms, smirking proudly. "Yup, you really think I wouldn't finesse my very own dish?"

Vuon stopped to look at Kettol again. "I think you can finesse anything..."

The look this man was giving Kettol was so intense that he had to back away slightly. Not to mention, Vuon's voice took on this calm and almost stirring tone, and that's _weird_ for someone like him. "Umm… _yeah_."

"Yooooo!"

And then there was Dyspo, who came in with a jolly, oblivious attitude. "You guysss, guess what week it is?"

"Single week." Kettol said with a cross look.

That holly jolly demeanor about Dyspo faded away slightly. "Why are you so salty?"

"Because he's single." Vuon said, suddenly sounding like his normal self. Kettol turned around with a frown, and Vuon shrugged at him. "What?"

Kettol blinked twice, it was as if that weird shit Vuon was doing _just now_ never happened, but he went with it anyway. " _You're_ the one to talk…"

"I think every single one of us, save for Tupper and Kahseral, shouldn't be talking." Dyspo crossed his arms. "Speaking of the latter, the dude is probably gonna spend the rest of his week with his wife or something."

"Really?" Kettol said, he fully stepped out of the kitchen.

"Yup." Dyspo nodded. "She's a sweetie, too."

Vuon suddenly called out from his seat whilst eating his food. "Watch yourself, Dyspo." Dyspo threw a 'shush it' at him, making Kettol chuckle at the hare. "While he's out with his wife for the week, what are we gonna do?"

"Be good friends and hang out with one another." Dyspo smiled. "Which is why I'm here in the first place; there is this reserved event at a bowling alley in the city, me, Kunshi, and Tupper thought it'd be great to pass the day off. You guys in?"

"Oh, _hell_ yeah man." Kettol nodded in agreement. "I'm down."

"Me too, lemme just eat first." Vuon raised his hand while forking down a pancake.

Dyspo smiled. "Perfect, that makes the five of us, then. I'll tell the others." With that, he skipped off and left the two men alone once again. Kettol was leaning against the countertop with his arms crossed.

"I'm gonna go and finish my food. By then, they'll probably start rounding us up. So much for _single week,_ you done over there _?_ "

He was talking to Vuon, but Vuon wasn't directly behind him. He had already placed his dish in the sink and was walking towards Kettol. Kettol felt him place a gentle hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Vuon giving him that intense damn look again.

"You won't be single for this entire week, Kettol." Vuon said, in fact as he said that he got even closer while maintaining full eye contact, making Kettol lean back even further.

"UMM DUDE." Kettol raised an arm in a sweeping motion. "CAN YOU _'SCUSE_ , PLEASE? _PERSONAL SPACE!_ What do you mean by _that_? _"_

Some whimsical, unrealistic part of him was hoping he didn't meant the obvious, but he was wrong unfortunately. Vuon leaned in _real_ close, like _breath distance_ close to his ear, and in a sultry voice said… " _You know exactly what I mean by that_."

Kettol had to _nope_ his way out of this, so he bounced away from Vuon's contact with a weirded out look on his face. I mean, who wouldn't be honestly; some orange Dino-Moo looking dude without a mustache somehow falling into something with your green _amphibian boi_ physique. The author could have used better wording, but this was good enough. "I don't know what silly game you're playing on me, but I'm not taking this shit from you, especially considering what week of the month it is."

"What shit?" Vuon was still trying to approach him, for god's sake. "I'm just telling you how things are gonna be from now on-"

" _What things…?_ " Is he really insinuating that-

The narrative was cut off, because Vuon's hand was already on Kettol's chest and umm… things aren't too peachy as of now. He leaned in real close again with that sexy ass voice and pulled on Kettol's collar to bring him close. "I'll leave that for you to understand later." With a daring chuckle, Vuon released his grip and started walking out of the kitchen while giving Kettol a look that was sure to fuck with his mind for the next few hours. Kettol blinked multiple times, watching as Vuon went back upstairs to get properly dressed for their bowling day, leaving the confused Trooper right where he was. He decided to go back into the living room where his food was, and looking down at the coffee table he swallowed and then cringed softly, he was unable to look at his own plate...

 _...I'm not hungry anymore._

Now, this is taking place away from the Netfiss base, and Vuon wasn't the only person who was affected by this _random incursion_ of _amore_. This was spreading out far beyond the same base that Belmod was in many hours ago, being that it was the first day of Amorous Week, and right smack in the afternoon as well. Tupper and Kahseral decided to spend this time gathering stuff for the Commander to take to his wife. The mustached Pride Trooper was sitting in Kahseral's sweet, sleek black ride, the front passenger seat he was in was on a recline, but he wasn't.

He and Kahseral were blasting some of their favorite songs, and carpooling like how two partnered men should be.

They were out buying stuff for said Amorous Week, both for Kasheral's wife and Tupper's girlfriend. You might be confused right now, Tupper has a girlfriend, you may ask?

Look at the man's mustache. Don't think he can't pull _anything_ from a mustache that beautiful looking.

They stopped in front of another shop. To be truthful, they didn't buy much because they both spent most of the time chatting about shit their partners do, and what their priceless gifts would be, which obviously involved their presence, of course.

"I dunno…" Kahseral looked down at his lap in thought. "I haven't bought her that in many years."

"You know," Tupper did that thing where he ran his index finger and thumb down his mustache, "Most women would _absolutely love_ that little contraption you bought. Quite nifty for both parties, anyway. What happened to the other one?"

Kahseral looked at Tupper with a smile that looked like he was about to laugh. "It broke."

"How the heck did it break?" Tupper cocked his neck back.

"She put too much chocolate into it." Kahseral chuckled. "The fountain machine can't take that much chocolate in one sitting and she got impatient."

"Well, geez." Tupper shook his head with laugh. "Alright, you can go do the thingy, I'll wait here."

"Right." Kahseral took the small gift bag from the compartment between their seats, it hard pretty little pink designs on it and inside was a beautiful opal necklace. During their voyage, Kahseral bought this necklace and wanted to take it back because he thought that a _galaxy_ opal would be better suited for her, she really loves space. "I'll be right back, just sit tight."

And tightly, Tupper did. In the twelve minute span Kahseral spent in the store, Tupper turned up the music a bit and had his phone out, texting Vuon about the whole thing and what he's gonna get his girlfriend for this week _aside_ from his lovely presence. He exited the messaging app, and went to read a random article about something, and this was nearing the time Kahseral would return.

Just _half a minute_ before Kahseral would return, Tupper was car grooving to this swingy song with his eyes closed. Out of nowhere, he felt like someone pushed the middle portion of his back, a weird pang hit the back of his chest before he felt his hands and feet warm up. Finally the effects subsided as if they never happened, leaving Tupper to stare at his hands in confusion.

"I'm back!" Kahseral opened the car door and plopped into his seat. Tupper looked at him. "I got the galaxy opal instead." He had this giddy look on his face. "She's gonna _love_ this."

Tupper stayed quiet. He just continued to look at Kahseral. The Commander himself was wearing a simple outfit; his navy blue shirt was buttoned up until it reached his upper chest, he was wearing black pants and black shoes. The chain on his neck completed his entire leisure, and almost attractive attire.

Tupper blinked and shifted so that his torso was facing Kahseral. "You look nice."

Kahseral smiled at him. "Thanks…" And then his smile faltered a bit. Tupper was _staring_ at him. "Umm, you okay?"

"Yeah…" Tupper nodded, but his gaze was still on Kahseral. "Very okay…"

"Okay…" Kahseral put his engine in gear while keeping an eye on Tupper, the mustache dude's big doey eyes turned away and he looked down at his lap. Kahseral frowned, but continued driving anyway. "So, I get to drop you off at the bowling alley right?"

"You _can_." Tupper leaned back, being reclined and relaxed all of the sudden as his voice took on a more seductive tone. "Where are you going afterwards?"

The Commander narrowed his eyes. "To my house…?"

"Is your wife at home?"

 _Okay, wait..._ Kahseral cocked his neck to the side. "Umm…" Tupper was giving him a side-eye, he was completely leaned back against his seat and his eyes were no longer intense looking. Now, he gave him the same kinda look that he gives his _girlfriend_. "I think she is."

He just said that because he didn't like how Tupper switched on him all of the sudden, and they weren't even two minutes away from the bowling alley. His wife wasn't actually home at the moment, he knew that, but Tupper didn't need to know.

"Why don't you check?"

"I called her while I was in the shop." Kahseral kept his eyes on the road. "She's there, alright."

"You sure about that?" Tupper tilted his head, his palms resting at his knees in a relaxed manner, his voice was _way_ too smooth right now. "Just a few minutes before you entered that shop, she was across the city." Tupper smirked, and then he leaned towards Kahseral with testy eyes and crossed arms. "Are you _lying_ to me?"

"N-no!" The Commander leaned the heck from this dude, because his face was dangerously close to his neck. "Tupper, I'm trying to _drive_ , don't… lean in on me like that."

"You smell good." Tupper's sultruous voice can be _felt_ by Kahseral at this point. He did a tiny sniff, before making a really low _mmmm_ sound. "What kind of cologne is that? It's _intoxicating_."

"Tupper…" Kahseral's eyes flickered the the Trooper just inches from his neck. " _Tupper_ , what the heck? Can you-" Kahseral proceeded to move the man away from him with a hand. "Let me _drive_ , for mink's sake! Stop acting all weird- why are you acting like this?"

"Acting?" Tupper frowned, momentarily keeping his distance. "What are you talking about?"

"You're being all strange around me, _what else_ could I mean?" Kahseral finally reached the front of the bowling alley. He took out his phone to quickly relay Dyspo on behalf of his arrival to take this man away from him. After putting his phone back in his pocket, he inhaled and then gave Tupper a deep frown. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"How could it be?" Tupper said. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"W-" Kahseral looked at Tupper, and saw his eyes. The Commander realized that… he was _strangely_ sincere looking. Tupper's eyes wasn't showing any sign of sarcasm or dry humor or the typical 'corny dad' persona that he tends to adopt at random times.

He was serious.

"Uhhh…" Kahseral left the question unanswered, and of course an unspoken prayer was answered by seeing a very familiar face exit out of the bowling alley, waving at Kahseral's car.

"Yoo, guys!"

Vuon came jogging towards Tupper's window, and he immediately leaned forward to conservatively greet the two. "Alright. How was you guys' little voyage?"

"It was umm…" Kahseral looked downwards with a slight chuckle.

"It was fine, to be honest." Tupper was looking at Vuon, he had his arms crossed. "Kahseral got his wife this uhh, this thing." He then turned to Kahseral all casual and shit, as if he didn't just sniff the nape of his neck just a minute ago. "Should I tell him what you got?"

 _Wait what the fuck?_ Kahseral looked really confused. "Umm, uhh… you _can_ , I mean…"

Tupper tilted his head at Kahseral. "Are you okay, man?"

 _Uhh, no_. "Uhh, yeah." Kahseral chuckled slightly. "Well Vuon, he is here. I hope you guys have fun today."

"Oh yup, we will." Vuon stood up to let Tupper exit Kahseral's car. The mustached Pride Trooper smiled back down at Kahseral as he closed his car door. "I'ma see you later, or maybe after this week. I dunno if you're coming back so…"

"Yeah… see you later, too." Kahseral gave him a crooked smile, and Vuon gave Kahseral a goodbye wave, before watching him drive off. Kahseral on the other hand, was thinking back to whatever the heck happened to Tupper, and there is a certain chance that he might just stay his ass home from now on… unless he forgets something.

"Did you guys start?" Tupper looked at the quartet of dudes. Kettol was holding a bowling ball and Dyspo was laxed back in a seat, Kunshi was nowhere to be found. The fish Pride Trooper turned around to see Vuon and Tupper re-entering their portion of the alley.

"We _kinda_ did, but only me and Dyspo went so far. Kettol is up now." Vuon went to sip his thing of soda. "This one hasn't gotten shit yet."

"That's because you _distracted_ me." Dyspo shot Vuon a look.

Vuon leaned forward with narrowed eyes. "And how did I do that?"

Dyspo stood up, getting ready to imitate the scene of Vuon distracting him, doing exaggerated gestures with it because it's fitting. "' _'Ey, your form looks weird, let me help you with that...'_ \- as I'm about to pitch it off, making me lose my aim."

"I thought you were _too good for distractions_." Vuon placed his hands on his hips, giving Dyspo a look which made the hare straight face.

"Shush it."

"HA!" Kettol jumped up super high in sudden victory, making the trio look back at him. " _Strike,_ bitches! What y'guys gonna do now?"

"Get a strike myself." Tupper stepped up like the based 'stached man he is, he grabbed a bowling ball and readied himself into position, since Dyspo had prepared everyone's scoreboards up Tupper didn't have to add himself in. He just went right in and only managed to get a spare instead. However, that left him second and Kettol first so far, with Dyspo third, Vuon fourth and Kunshi fifth. "Dammit…"

"You can't _touch_ me in bowling." Kettol snapped his fingers with finesse as he walked past Tupper with a smirk.

"Don't get all cocky Kettol." Tupper crossed his arms. "That's how you lose. Every time." He looked up at the scoreboard. It was Kunshi's turn; the mustached Pride Trooper looked around; the place was reserved, so only the five of them were here, plus the workers of course. And there were only four of them in the alley right now. "Say, where's Kunshi?"

"I'm present." Kunshi came out of the men's room, cracking his knuckles. "Is it my turn?"

Both Vuon and Tupper answered a synonymous 'yup'. "Ey, great." Tupper smiled. "Go up there."

"After him is Vuon." Dyspo said. "I gotta go use the restroom, I'll be right back."

"Funny, I do too." Tupper looked at the exiting hare. "I'll see you three in a moment." He noticed that Kettol was sitting far away from Vuon, and he also noticed that any time Vuon had gotten within a few feet away from him, Kettol would move back. That was strange, because the two are normally cool with one another. He entered the men's restroom and went to Dyspo before he would do his business.

"So… why is Kettol acting weird around Vuon?" He pointed with his thumb at the restroom door.

"Oh, umm…" Dyspo shrugged. "Kettol told me that Vuon did something weird and he can't look him the same way again."

Tupper furrowed his brows, going up to a urinal that was two away from Dyspo. Fellas, you know that using a urinal right next to another guy is not permitted in _the code,_ you know that. "What'd he do?"

"Something weird, I dunno." Dyspo shook his head. "He probably showed him an unforsaken meme again."

Unforsaken memes are basically dank memes but _way the fuck worse_ , they are the shinies of the meme world in Universe 11. They are supposed to be dismissed for how _amazingly terrible_ they are but they aren't, hence the name _unforsaken_.

"Geez…" Tupper shook his head as well, unzipping his pants and doing his thing. "Vuon's always manage to scourge some of the weirdest memes in the deep depths of the Web. Some of them are absolutely funny though." He chuckled to himself in memory of this one meme Vuon showed him. "You got anyone special for Amorous Week?"

"Nah…" Dyspo shook his head. He was finished at least. "What plans you got?"

"Well, I'm obviously taking this time to spend it with my girlfriend. I bought her a few things, and I called her earlier to tell her about what happened last week." They did have to save a planet just a week ago. Dyspo was quiet while he trailed off. "She's gonna be out of the city and in a motel so you already know it's gonna be tidy time."

"So are you gonna rent a room separately or with her?"

"With her, of course." Tupper zipped his stuff back up.

"Can you make room for another?"

That was a weird request, but Tupper didn't see it as that for the moment. "Uhh why? Is this a double date I'm smelling?"

"You could consider it that."

Tupper had to move back in order to turn around and see Dyspo right behind him, there was a look in his eyes which showed that he meant something more… adulterous. Due to Dyspo's very nature, his flirt game was not very conservative. "Umm… Dyspo?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you… Back up?" He frowned at the closeness of this hare, but Dyspo didn't mind it.

"Why?"

"Because I'm in the _middle_ of something." More like he _ended_ his own business, but he didn't even zip his pants up yet and with Dyspo right behind him umm…

Dyspo frowned, his voice was nice and smooth. "You look quite done, though."

Okay _no_ , that just implied that Dyspo really _looked_ down to check if Tupper was indeed in the middle of- "Dyspo!"

"What?" The hare frowned. "Why are you yelling for? I'm not doing anything _wrong_."

Tupper quickly sheathed his stuff back in his pants. "You can't be _this close_ to a dude while he's taking a piss!" He turned around fully once his situation was _out_ of the situation.

I need to stop with these metaphors.

"You're acting like I just stroked you right on the spot." Dyspo placed his hands on his hips, making Tupper flinch visibly at the _idea_ itself. Dyspo wasn't that raunchy when he speaks, why is he acting like this now, of _all_ places? "Don't get so fretful; I won't _bite_."

"Umm…" This interaction, in its entirety, was _sus_ as hell. "Dyspo, what the heck?"

And then he took a step forward with both his hands behind his back now, and one of his dashing pretty smiles made its way into his face. "Unless you _want_ me to…"

"Dyspo, what the _fuck_ , man?" Tupper waved his arms as he backed away from the invasive hare. "Haven't I told you that I'm not single? Were you not listening to what I was saying?"

"I _was_ …" Dyspo said. "And I wasn't planning on making you single either."

 _Wait…_ " _Planning_? The heck do you mean by that?"

"Meaning," Dyspo closed the distance between them, so that Tupper and he were now face-to-face. Dyspo's snout _barely_ brushed against Tupper's nose. " _You and I_ , that's what I meant."

Being this close to Dyspo's eyes, he had never seen such a vigorous stare from someone like that before. Even his girlfriend whenever they were about to court wouldn't look at him with such intensity, such fire in her eyes. Dyspo, right now, was real close to giving him the rawest _bed eyes_ Tupper had ever seen.

" _Hell_ ," Tupper swiped his head to right, " _The fuck_ ," to the left, and then craned it away from Dyspo's face. "NO!" This man legitimately jumped way the fuck back, going right to the men's room exit and holding the door handle. "Put that shit away!"

There was a knock on the door, and Tupper looked back and down at the handle. He opened the door, hoping to be salvaged by whoever was knocking right now, and there was Kunshi in his blue jumpsuit.

"Uhh… I heard noises and I thought something wrong happened in here. You guys ok?"

 _Something wrong did happen_ \- "Yeah we're fine, why?"

Tupper whipped his head to Dyspo, he answered Kunshi with a casual voice, _completely_ different from what he was doing prior to this.

"I just heard noises, just making sure dude." Kunshi raised both hands up. Tupper swung his head back to Kunshi. "And you're up too."

"Wait, it's my turn?" Dyspo said. "Already?"

"You know we serve fast, bro." Kunshi said. "Besides, you two were taking too long. Tupper, what's wrong?"

Now here's disgruntled Tupper looking between Dyspo and Kunshi, trying to make sense of what _just_ transpired, because it damn did contrast greatly with the shit that happened when he and Dyspo were alone. "Umm… I uhh… there…"

Dyspo frowned. "Are you okay, man?"

You see, Tupper could get into a wrap of how Dyspo was pouring innuendos on him just now, but Dyspo looked like he was actually confused. Not like the flagrant confusion, he had no idea why Tupper was so freaked out. The best thing to do is to lie about what happened, because both parties were unaware, at all. "Yeah, I just… Saw a message from one of my friends in a group chat, and it was terrible."

Kunshi raised a brow. "Well, alright then."

Dyspo shook his head. "Man, why are you always in the weirdest group chats?"

"They're not _weird_." _Unlike you_ , Tupper held his tongue, Dyspo didn't seem to show any sign of _that gay_ ness he adapted before Kunshi opened the door.

"Alright, alright, just come through now. Vuon is getting impatient." Kunshi chuckled, and the duo did indeed leave the bathroom. Dyspo was first in line and the first thing he saw of the two men that were left alone, Vuon and Kettol, was that Kettol was fast walking towards the beverage machine while rubbing his chest frantically. The hare frowned, and saw Vuon standing while looking at Kettol. The back of his head was facing the trio so they couldn't see his face, but he turned around neutrally.

"It's _your_ turn, Dyspo."

Or _saltily_ , rather.

"Okay, okay slow your roll." Dyspo sent to their very station.

"Taking all that damn time." Vuon shook his head. "What were you two doing in there?"

"Using the restroom, like normal dudes _do_ , Vuon." Dyspo narrowed his eyes. "What, you really think us coincidentally using the bathroom together would mean something more than that?"

Kunshi, Dyspo and Vuon heard a weird noise come from Tupper. The man looked really uneasy, but he did stomach it down for obvious reasons. This made Vuon furrowed his brows. "Are you okay over here, Tupper?"

"I'm fine." Tupper waved whatever he was feeling off with his hand. "I'm _cool beans_ , my fellows. Where's Kettol?"

"Here!" Kettol peeked his head out, for some odd reason, and then after a moment decided to return back to the group. Again, the confusion made its way on Dyspo's face. "Is there something that I don't know about? Why is everyone acting so weird today?"

"Nothing's _wrong_." Kettol assured, his just chuckled it off. Everyone else pretty much dismissed it due to Kettol's lightheartedness. The fishlike Pride Trooper made a face that mirrored the uncomfortability that Tupper had felt. Dyspo had went up to play, and then his pocket started making a noise.

"Wait… I got a call, I'm gonna be right back." Dyspo raised a finger while looking at his phone and dashed right out of the station and into a more quiet, private place. He saw the caller ID to be Cocotte. "Heyy, Coco, what's up?"

Her kind voice came through. "Heyy, Dyspo."

"How've you been?" Dyspo smirked. "Did you _just_ decide to check up on me?"

She actually didn't. Cocotte was going about her regular routine at her own house, and she plopped down on her beanbag chair with her phone in hand. It was around this time when she felt a weird sensation on her lower back before her hands got really warm, and it was at this moment where Dyspo actually texted her so the first face she saw was his.

This happened around an _hour_ ago.

Ever since then, she's been staring at Dyspo's face until her patience wore thin enough for her to call him. "Definitely. I just wanted to know… how you've been."

Dyspo frowned. "You okay over there? Why do you sound like you're out of breath?"

The author refuses to go into detail with that one, just know that it was for an _obscene_ reason. "I've just been doing things until I called you."

"Oh." Dyspo nodded. "Like exercise?"

Her giggle sounded very sensual. "You could call it that, Didi."

Cocotte doesn't use that particular nickname for him often, but that giggle caught Dyspo's giant ears more. "Uhh, okay…"

She smiled, unbeknownst to him of course. "I was wondering, are you gonna be free to drop by my place later tonight?"

The hare smiled, obviously thinking that she just wanted to chill with him. "Ah, you want me to hang out with you, yes?"

"Sure."

A weird response; if it weren't for Dyspo's obliviousness he would've caught that hanging out was _not_ in her choice of actions. "Well alright, later tonight I'll drop by." Dyspo said. "See you then, Coco!"

"Bye-bye!" Was all she said, before she hung up. Dyspo smiled down at the contacts, and heard Kunshi call him over again. Without wasting any game time, the hare placed his phone in his pocket and skipped right back into the bowling alley.

"Jiren."

Toppo came around his dressing room, he had opened a black box with a particular outfit that was for his Grey friend, who was following suit for the sake of this. "I bought this for you earlier this week. I think it would fit very well on you." The Grey in question gave Toppo a look, and Toppo sighed.

All Jiren did was blink, completely uninterested. "Why did you buy clothing for me?"

"There might be a movie night event going on for all of us and we want you to be involved."

Jiren still had that look on his face.

"That means wearing something _other_ than our sacred suit."

The look got even stronger, because Jiren did not want to be involved in anything that they had planned. It has nothing to do with hate or anything, he just likes being alone, but if he were to turn this down, Toppo would go ages bugging him about it especially because he actually presented the folded clothing to him. So, he went with the _least annoying_ route to this situation. "What is that?"

He was referring to the clothing. Toppo answered him. "It's a nice sweater with a pair of pants." Toppo handed him the folded clothing with both his hands and Jiren took it, feeling the material with his thumbs.

"Why do I have to wear this?"

"It's our tradition." Toppo smiled. "We thought it'd be a great idea for us to go in casual clothing."

"In sleepwear?"

Toppo actually bought Jiren something that could be passed off as either casual clothing, or pajamas. Due to the softness of the material, Jiren thought that these were pajamas of course. "Yes."

"Are we supposed to sleep on that day?"

"Jiren," Toppo raised both hands, "It's our _tradition_. Just try it, it wouldn't hurt to wear something other than your suit, would it?"

It really wouldn't, Jiren didn't have a problem with wearing something different, he just didn't see the point in doing so. But now that he knew this was for a social thing, it turned him from the idea almost completely. The only reason he was considering it was to shut Toppo up, that might seem mean for a friend to do, but think back to the last time you were nagged so hard about something that you had to _agree_ in order to stop that crap?

Exactly.

Jiren gave another look at his clothing and back at Toppo, a short pause went between the two aside from Toppo's budding smile underneath his beard. The Grey turned around and went into the dressing closet to actually change, while Toppo crossed his arms proudly. The both of them were in Toppo's house, for the most part the place was pretty much silent since it was just the two of them within the dressing room. It was rather large and roomy too for obvious reasons, and had a healthy lighting to it. There were no windows, the room was of very pale beige and white register, and the ventilation was amazing in this room.

The leader of the Pride Troopers waiting patiently for Jiren to change, in the comfort of his own solitude the bearded man decided to sit on one of the ledges. His mind drifted to wherever it wanted to go in the couple of minutes it took for his friend to completely finish. Though, there was a small breeze in the room that completely offsetted Toppo's train of thought, making him blink and look around, and then just like that… it was gone. At first, there was the expected tidbit of confusion as Toppo looked down at his hands and feet. Then the sound of the dressing closet's door knob being turned was heard, making him look up at the door itself only to be revealed with Jiren's full appearance.

He came out of the dressing closet adorning a _fluffy black_ roundneck sweater that fit his sculpted muscles very well being cuffed at the ends of his sleeves, and a pair of comfy fitted white pants that resembled joggers, cuffed at the ends of his ankles. Toppo's yellow eyes widened, to see Jiren look so well in this attire was so unexpected, seriously. As for Jiren's pride Trooper suit, it was slung over his shoulder with his left hand holding onto it. He could just pocket the clothing, and this isn't some Jiren fact situation, their suits were well designed to be easily be compacted into pocket-size dimensions.

Jiren had his right hands in his pants pocket, and he shrugged. "I don't see the fundamental reason behind this."

"I do." Toppo inhaled. "You look… amazing."

The Grey slowly looked down at himself. He was literally in _pajama-tier_ clothing, like the type of stuff you'd crash into your bed with. Yet this fluffy sweater and these comfortable well fitting pants were making Toppo look like he was witnessing a mermaid god emerging from a flower or some shit. "...Okay..."

Toppo looked him up and down, before smiling underneath that giant beard and approaching him to get a _better view_. "It looks really soft. May I?"

Jiren didn't even get a chance to say no or yes, because Toppo was already in front of him at this time. Toppo raised an arm and placed his giant hand on Jiren's shoulder, feeling the material with his thumb. Then he slowly ran his hand down Jiren's built and toned arm, whilst using his other hand to run down the other arm in the same fashion.

And he was doing all this… while staring _deep_ into Jiren's eyes.

Jiren had this growing frown on his face, _why_ was Toppo running his hands on him like this? And why did he do this _before_ Jiren even said anything? Toppo was maintaining a heavily uncomfortable amount of eye contact on his big black giant eyes, and once he felt Toppo's hands go just centimeters away from his hands, Jiren swiped them upwards and away from his _explorative_ digits.

Toppo frowned. "What was that for?"

What was _that_ for? This dude manually groped Jiren's arms just now. "Why are you touching me?"

"Your sweater feels nice..." Toppo said, his voice was trailing off as he did that intense gaze again and took step forward. At this point, Jiren had to take a step back. "You have beautiful eyes, Jiren."

 _Umm._

"Toppo…" Jiren blinked, and then leaned back further. Toppo's face was getting real close. "Toppo, what are you doing?"

Seeing that Jiren was trying to get away from his big imposing ass, Toppo's giant hands went to gently but firmly grasp Jiren's hips. And then, in a low and smooth voice, he said something cheesier than Cheetos themselves. "I'm getting lost in your eyes, Jiren…"

If he's lost, then he better _find_ his way back because Jiren is _not_ taking this physical contact lightly… nor is he here for cheesy statements.

"Toppo…" He carefully spoke, refraining from kicking him across the room for the moment. " _Let go of me_."

Toppo cocked his neck back. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"There are a lot of things wrong." Jiren shook his head. "Release me. _Now._ "

Thankfully, Toppo did release his hands from his hips, but he didn't release that _stare_ off his person and Jiren could frankly _feel_ his eyes on him. "Sorry." Toppo did he nervous, timid chuckle that would sound cute to a female. "You just… I'm very proud to see you in something other than your suit. Although seeing you in our suit isn't such a bad thing." He then stroked his beard in thought.

Jiren is a pure man, so he didn't see anything innately wrong with that statement. All he did was nod, and slowly side stepped so that he could leave this dressing room at least, but Toppo grabbed his forearm and Jiren flickered his gaze downward before swiping his arm away again.

"Stop touching me, Toppo."

"Why are you walking away?" Toppo asked. "I wanted to see you in the clothes I bought."

"You've seen me already." Jiren said. He blinked and fully faced Toppo. "You're seeing me _right now_."

"But that's not enough, Jiren." Toppo's voice took on this low, and vibrative tone that was mostly uncharacteristic of him, at least as far as Jiren knew. He was still approaching the Grey. "I need to get a better look at you."

Better look _his grey ass._ Hopefully, that wouldn't be foreshadowing. "Does that include physical contact?"

Jiren said this while moving and snatching his hands and arms away from Toppo's giant hands. He was reaching for the door at this point, he really needed to leave because Toppo was getting all touchy, and for the love of the void and everything not in it, that damn _gaze_ spelled a lot of not very good things for Jiren.

Most notably, an unhealthily gigantic amount of attraction.

"Jiren-"

" _No_." Toppo tried to grab Jiren's hand just now, but the Grey had opened the door to the dressing room and exited before he could get locked in there and have to deal with Toppo's gaze any longer. "Toppo, _stop it._ "

Toppo frowned. "You keep running away from me, though."

Jiren straightfaced, he was barely even power walking. "Whatever you're attempting to do, _stop it_. Stop playing around-" Jiren was interrupted, because Toppo grabbed both his arms out of nowhere and gave him the deepest look Jiren had ever seen in a long time. His eyes were unwavering, undisturbed, the pure emotion was shown in his face. Toppo was always an animated person, a very expressive person in general but _oh gosh_ , _this_ particular look legitimately caught Jiren off guard.

And then… and then to make things even worse for the asocial Grey, he said;

"What would make you think that I'm playing around?" Toppo's voice was soft, and it sounded heartfelt in a way, almost _hurt_. He bought his face closer to the shorter man, making Jiren cock his neck all the way the heck back. "Jiren…"

Said man was already moving his arms to get _off_ of his grasp. He was getting so annoyed and confused with this sudden personality shift and he shook his head, raising his voice slightly. " _What?_ "

They were right outside in Toppo's lofty hallway, Jiren was just a few feet away from the wall behind him. Toppo's eyes went soft, his tone and expression was eerily sincere, Toppo even moved his hands from Jiren's arms to his hips again, and the grasp he had on Jiren softened. " _I love you_."

Jiren froze. No, he actually had to _pause_ because of the way those three words were said to him, and the proximity of both their faces, and the fact that this was his friend, _and_ the fact that he won't stop staring into Jiren's galactic eyes. This was like one of those record scratch moments where everything goes completely silent, and then that one random tumbleweed rolls past in the background of the scene, that is _this_ moment right here.

He looked to his right, and then go to his left, and then casted his gaze downwards before looking back up at Toppo and blinking, in a creeped out way. Jiren removed his hands from Toppo's wrist since Toppo's grip wasn't so heavy, and he proceeded to back away while giving Toppo a side-eye glance. "I got to go."

"Jiren…" Toppo frowned, as Jiren now was out of his grasp and was _backing_ away from Toppo.

"I got. To go."

"Jiren!"

" _Got to go."_ With an immeasurable amount of speed, Jiren instant transmissioned himself right out of that whole mess, he was now miles away from Toppo's house, now in the confines of the Netfiss base's roof. He sat down looking mostly calm, but still internally confused, conflicted, contested, discombobulated, _all_ types of words to describe the _what the actual fuck_ that's running through his mind right now. He leaned forward to rest his elbow against his tree while frowning at the moon as if it did something even though his mind wasn't on the moon right now.

That explains why the moon didn't run away.

Why? What was _that_ all about? Why did Toppo suddenly switch up on him like that? Did it have something to do with his clothes? Did Toppo somehow garner some form of attraction to him from a pair of pants and a sweater that he was still wearing right now? Maybe he might have to take this _off_ the next time he sees Toppo if clothing manages to make him react like that, but then again Jiren knew that Toppo can't possibly be moved by simple articles like clothes. So what exactly was it that made act like that? It sure as hell wasn't _him_.

Jiren looked down at his attire, and phased himself into his empty base room. He'll take it off and leave it somewhere here anyway, _just to be safe_.

"What is _wrong_ with you?"

"Whaddaya mean what is wrong with me?"

" _Kettol!"_ Zoiray exclaimed. "Quit rubbing my horns like that!"

"They feel _nice_ , Zoiray." Kettol moved his right hand from the horn he was touching just now, and proceeded to caress Zoiray's little face, to which the tinier man jumped back so far he actually fell on his ass.

"NO, DON'T _TOUCH_ MY PERSON!" Zoiray raised both his arms up, scrambling to get himself back up. "Why are you all touchy and shit? And why are you looking at me like that?"

"You look amazing. That's why." Kettol's pointy teeth made their appearance when he flashed Zoiray a charming grin.

"I'm wearing nothing but _boxers_ , you idiot!" To be fair, Kettol and Zoiray were busy playing video games, and just before this whole mess started Kettol told Zoiray that he was going to leave. So Zoiray stayed in his room, and then went to take a shower, and came out all squeaky clean in a pair of clean navy blue boxers… only to see Kettol sitting on his bed. Now, Kettol was making a giant effort in trying to hold and hug Zoiray or some other shit and the tiny Pride Trooper was more than _freaked out_ at this man's advancements.

Okay lemme straighten something out for you before I get reported for this misunderstanding since this hasn't been made clear. This isn't a pedophile act, Zoiray sounds hella young and looks hella young because his race has helium for air (no they don't, they just have really high voices and they're all short). Zoiray's not a kid; in essence, he's in the middle-range of all the Pride Trooper ages, not the youngest by a milefold.

Don't let that young looking face fool you. Zoiray, in our human age terms, is technically in his late 20s. His race doesn't crack at all.

"Is that a problem?" Kettol frowned. "I'm just sitting here with you, there's no need to get all scared, _guupy_."

 _Guupy_ is a term in Zoiray's home language used by those who are in a romantic relationship. It closely means _honey_ or _baby_. Obviously, Zoiray's face got all scrunched up as he shook his head rapidly. "DON'T CALL ME THAT! WE'RE NOT A THING!"

"We could be, Zoi." Kettol knelt down in front of him and Zoiray stepped back, unfortunately his back hit against the wall. Kettol started to reach forward to put his hands on Zoiray's chest. "Think about it…"

"Fuck _no!_ " Zoiray wiggled and shimmied his way out of Kettol's grasp frantically. "Get the _hell_ out of my house!"

Kettol gave him a look. "Zoiray, it's not nice to kick people out like this."

"You're trying to _grope_ me!" Zoiray flailed. "I don't want it! You're supposed to be leaving now."

"And who said that?"

" _You_ said that!"

"But I want to stay a little longer," He approached Zoiray quick enough to kneel down and go close to the side of his face, " _To be with you._ "

"Bitch, you better _see_ yourself out my door, you dick! Don't to-EY!" Kettol ran a hand down Zoiray's cheek again, and the little Pride Trooper had no choice but to high kick him (he's short as hell) square in the gut, making Kettol stumble backwards. The tiny Trooper stood several feet in front of him, Kettol's back was a few feet away from his window and Zoiray saw this as the perfect opportunity. If Zoiray wanted him out, he'll get him the fuck out, so he initiated turning himself into a tornado whirlwind again, just strong enough to knock all the lighter things in his room, and also to send Kettol flying right out of his window. The man made a loud yelping sound as he descended, and Zoiray exhaled a breath of relief despite shuddering at the incident just now.

He then looked down at himself, and then back out the window. "Fuck… I threw my boxers out too."

Passing right by this same suite was Kunshi, who was driving back to his house after his day with Dyspo, and since Dyspo was going to Cocotte's place to hang out he dropped Dyspo off of his place first so that his hare friend could freshen up and drive his own car there. He decided to take the exit lane into a normal street, and turned to his right momentarily as a vigilant driver would.

He did a double take when he noticed a male flying right of a hotel building window, at least three floors above ground level.

Kunshi, as a Pride Trooper, _had_ to rush over to the site of this calamity to see if this person was okay. He parked on the other side of the street and got out of his car, jogging forward to see that the person who landed on both feet was…

"Kettol?!" The fish Pride Trooper looked up at Kunshi when he exclaimed, completely confused. Even he didn't know how the hell he ended up here. "What the heck happened? And why is there a thing of boxers on the ground?"

He could have asked Kettol if he was okay but as a fighter and a Trooper, falling down a three story building deserves as much care as stepping on a flat piece of paper. "I got thrown off of his fucking building!" Kettol stood up and dusted himself off. "Bro. I don't know why or when but before I knew it, I was… I was here. And I dunno what that's doing here."

" _Whose_ building?!" Kunshi asked, looking up at the very place Kettol had just feel from. Kunshi blinked, and since his head was looking up when he cocked his neck back, it gave him a turtle face. "Is… is this Zoiray's suite?"

"Yes." Kettol exhaled. "That's his room window. Why I was flying out of it is unknown to me."

"Did you do something unforgivably stupid?"

"I don't even know what I did!" Kettol frowned deeply at Kunshi, because he found that offensive. We all know Kettol would never be the type to do or say something utterly stupid…

"How do you not know what you did?"

"I swear," Kettol articulated with this fingers, "everything was just fine, we were playing video games, and then _boom_ , I got thrown out of his house, just like that."

Kunshi sighed. "You know what, lemme go talk to him." The shorter Pride Trooper was about to ring Zoiray's doorbell but stopped to look back at Kettol. "Do you need a ride or something?"

"My car is right there." Kettol pointed at said car, just a few meters away from the two since he parked in front of the building.

"Oh…" Kunshi blinked, and the other dismissively waved his hand.

"I ought to go home. I dunno what the heck's going on this whole week. First with Vuon and now…"

"What did Vuon do?"

Kettol inhaled slowly. "I'm not bullshitting right now… but when we were at the bowling place and after you went to get Dyspo and Tupper… the dude tried to rip my shirt off."

Kunshi frowned. "Wait, wait what?" Then he recalled that rushed scene of Kettol fast walking to the vending machine while holding the top portion of his chest, which was exposed. _That_ made sense, but…

"But why?"

"I don't fucking know man!" Kettol flailed. "I'ma go home and power binge something. Today's a weird day."

Not to mention it was the first day of Amorous Week. But he can't imagine someone like _Vuon_ ever coming that close to Kettol and doing something like that. Of all people, Vuon was the least aggressive when it came to attraction, and the dude doesn't even _like_ dudes! He shook his head, _you know what; lemme just go in here and ask what that was all about and maybe I could get a better view of this whole situation._

He rang Zoiray's doorbell, within several seconds the intercom on the voicepad came up. "Who is _that_?"

 _Already_ , he had a sassy attitude. "It's Kunshi."

There was a pause. "Oh… how the fuc- okay, it's open."

Kunshi opened the door after the confirmation, and stomped his way up to, presumably, where Zoiray was. He was about to travel up the stairs but Zoiray was coming down the stairs before he had exited his living room. He was looking down at his feet, and Kunshi didn't waste any time in scolding him for doing such a shitty act.

"Zoiray!" His angry voice made the tiny Pride Trooper look up. "Why the heck did you throw Kettol out of your house? You could have hurt some pedestrian walking by, you know! That was uncalled for!"

Zoiray was wearing a robe, having picked up a new pair of boxers of course. He saw how distraught Kunshi was, bustling in here and scolding him about the brazen action he'd just done to Kettol. But that's all he saw, and he rushed to Kunshi. "My, are you okay?"

 _Boy, excuse me?_ "I should be the one asking _you_ that!"

"Why?" Zoiray frowned. "I'm perfectly okay. More than okay, actually."

"Uhh, not with what you did to Kettol you're not."

"Sit down, Kunshi." Zoiray floated up to place his hands on Kunshi's wide shoulders to coerce him into sitting. He pretty much nudged Kunshi until his butt was against Zoiray's loveseat. "You look vexed. Please, relax."

"Zoiray… Dude, I _am_ relaxed." Kunshi was confused, why was Zoiray suddenly so reconciling Kunshi's temper? Kunshi wasn't even _that_ pissed, he was just trying to scold Zoiray. "Why are you massaging my shoulders?"

Zoiray leaned in real close to Kunshi's side, hands now roaming around his shoulder area. "Relaaaax, man. Do you want a glass of water? Of wine? I'll bring you the best in my fridge."

"Zoiray, I don't want any wine." Kunshi unfortunately turned around to see Zoiray's face, he was giving him a pervasive look. "Umm…"

Zoiray shrugged. "Alright then." He hopped forward to sit on Kunshi's shoulder, and then slid himself down so that he was sitting on the other's lap. He then ran a hand down his chest. "So, how are you feeling tonight?"

"How about _no_?!" Kunshi pushed Zoiray off of him and Zoiray didn't really fall that far, he was able to get up on both his feet from that single push.

It's funny because they're both short.

"Kunshi…" Zoiray pouted. "You ruffled my robe. Be careful, or it might _fall off."_

What in the purple polka dot _hell_ was that supposed to mean? "Zoiray…"

" _Yes?_ "

"Hey- Keep your hands off of me!" Kunshi sprung himself off the loveseat because Zoiray's hands were on his thighs. The lovestruck blue Trooper continued advancing and as if Kunshi was some idiot in a horror movie, he didn't run to the front door so that he could leave. The closest place he could escape this tiny Trooper's attraction were the stairs, he didn't even think twice about it.

He _booked_ his way up those dang stairs.

"Yo, Cocotte." Dyspo walked into her bedroom, where she told him that she was in. He didn't actually see her, she was in her bathroom.

" _Heyyy_ …" Her voice could be heard from the closed door. "I'm changing into something, before we can actually _chill_ can you tell me if this look nice?"

Ironically enough, Cocotte was very confident in herself, but she has a habit of asking others what they think of the new outfits that she buys. It isn't much of an insecurity thing, but rather a 'feast your eyes upon this' type of thing only to slay in whatever she adorns. And she knows she does.

"What is it?" Dyspo looked at the door. "Is it like a shirt or…"

"Oh you'll umm…" Dyspo could practically hear her smile, for the wrong reasons, "You'll see. I'm about to come out."

Dyspo blinked, and then chuckled a bit and went to sit down on one of her bean bag chairs. The second he plopped down his phone fell out of his pocket, we all know how sweatpant pockets are as unreliable as a third coat of paint. "Dammit…" he muttered to himself, shifting and turning to his side to get his phone which apparently was several feet away from him.

You know how phones do that bicycle tumble road runner shit when it falls and ends up breaking the lamp that's 20 feet away from you? Dyspo was too selectively active to actually get up and get his phone so he used his feet to push his sitting ass over to where his phone was. As he was reaching for it, Cocotte's bathroom door opened.

"Oh, you're done." Dyspo picked up his phone. "Hold on I'ma see how-oooOOH _shit_!"

Dyspo turned around just in time to see Cocotte… in probably the most _scandalous_ attire he's ever seen his girl best friend in. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, she was wearing ruby red semi-nude lingerie with panty straps around her upper hips since the thong she adorned was high and left _little_ to the imagination. Her bra cups weren't even cups, all they did was cover her nipples and a few centimeters around for leverage, giving it much lenient room for bounce, and her heels were a velvety black color. She was leaning against the door with one arm propped upwards on the frame and both her legs together in a sensual pose, and her body was slightly wet. Her dark red lips formed a smile. "So… what do you think?"

"Ai-u-uhh…" Dyspo was reduced to a stuttering mess for several seconds because _no way in hell_ has he ever imagined _Cocotte_ wearing such a frisky outfit in front of him, and this man scratched the back of his head with a conflicted look on his face. "Umm…" Dyspo swallowed. _Shit..._

"I went out earlier to get this." Cocotte _finessed_ this catwalk while approaching him, he nothing else to do but stare. "I thought it would make things more interesting."

What do you do in this situation? Dyspo and Cocotte have made it clear that they were to stay friends, and now she's coming to him looking like _this_? As a matter of fact, Dyspo took a moment to pay attention to the air around him. "...Cocotte?"

"Hmm?" She stopped her walk, being several meters away from him and Dyspo felt his face get really hot.

"Are… are you aroused?"

Since he's of an animal species, this is granted to most humanoid animalistic species around the world; he was able to tell when someone is in _heat_. It's an innate thing that his race and many races have because there is a point in time where _that_ season comes along and they need that for the sake of sensing that stuff out. Dyspo _wishes_ he didn't acknowledge this very instinct.

"Maybe…" And Cocotte wasn't scared to admit it, in fact she continued on, running her hands down her curves. "You think this is okay?"

Dyspo had to scramble to get up, because the angle at which she was standing right in front of him was _not right_. "Umm, uhh, I-I-uh… I guess, why-why are you wearing this?"

She blinked. "Why not?" Cocotte's eyes glazed over to the bed and she reached out to touch his arm. Dyspo was too busy trying to figure out if this was actually happening or not, so her touch made him jump slightly and he realized that she was looking at her own bed. _This, this is not happening…_ "Sit."

"But I don't…" Dyspo's voice trailed off, but Cocotte was already holding him and luring him towards her bed, much to his dismay. "Cocotte- I really don't think you got the right idea behind this."

"You have needs, Dyspo. I can see it in your eyes." Cocotte was _real close_ to his face, and her pupils were dilated a bit. This was _real_. " _Relax._ " She shoved him straight onto the bed and held him down with her hands on his chest. Dyspo made a sound, scared, as she slid herself on top of him with a lustful smile.

"Cocotte, Cocotte…" Dyspo held her wrists. "Look, I dunno what you're trying to do and I _hope_ I don't know, but can you please g-get off of me?"

Cocotte tilted her head, now sitting on his lap. "Why? Is this too much for you?"

 _Yes._ "Well, no, but-"

"Then I'll make this better for us." Both her thumbs came on each strap of her bra, slightly pulling it upward and teasing the full reveal of her breasts. The hare quickly shook his head, getting conflicted.

Dyspo quickly grabbed her forearms before she could anything more than that."No-no-no-no, you don't need to take your bra off. Just… just please get off. This is… uncomfortable."

"Is it?"

"Yes!" He craned his neck forward for more emphasis. "I don't like how this is go-" He stopped, feeling her slowly shift her seat down to his groin, and she grabbed his hands and placed them on her curvy hips and started rocking slowly. _Oh, by fuck…_

"Dyspooo…" She ran her hands up his smooth abdomen. "Why are you so tense? Loosen up, baby."

" _NOOOOOO."_ Dyspo had to grasp her hips and pull her off of him and onto her own bed. He sprung himself right back up and used his thumbs to frantically point to the door. "Listen, I gotta _gooo_. Kunshi texted me about something a-and he needs me for it right no-"

"Your phone isn't even _out_." Cocotte gave him a cross look. "Why are you so scared of me?"

"Because you're literally on _fuck mode_ right now! Like, do you not see who I am?" Dyspo pointed to himself.

"Oh, I do see…" Cocotte stood up to go at him again. "Now lay down."

"No!"

"Dyspo…" She was getting agitated, and the look in her eyes was fiery. If Dyspo doesn't get out of here, he might not live to be around this woman again.

"Cocotte, snap out of whatever the hell you're on!" He started snapping his fingers in her face like that was gonna do something.

"Snap out of _what_?" She was mad now. "Get your ass," She gripped the front of his shirt and swung him back to his place, "back on my bed!"

"NO!" He tried to get up again, and she pinned him right the heck down and started pulling at his shirt. "COCOTTE, STOP IT! I don't wanna use force on you!"

She stopped all of the sudden, and had this wavering smile on her face as she shifted in a weird way. Dyspo could see what that entailed, the very notion of what he said got her excited. She leaned forward to whisper in his delicate ear, in a voice that is sure to turn any man's legs into jelly. " _I like it that way, hun._ " Her nails dug into his shoulders. "Go ahead, use force on me."

 _Why is she so aggressive? Geez…_ "NO! NOT THAT KIND OF FORCE!"

"Do you think I'm ugly or something?" She sat right up, Cocotte had an… unexpectedly hurt look on her face. "Is that what this is?"

"No Cocotte, it's just… we're friends. That's it." Dyspo said. "Why are you acting like this?"

"I like you."

"Bitch, _excuse me_?" He had the same exact reaction as Kunshi unironically. He didn't say that to insult her of course. "Y-you like me?"

"Yes."

"Cocotte…" Dyspo tilted his head to the left, still trying to comprehend this whole mess. "...Are you really thinking right now?"

"Perhaps…" She looked down, tracing lines against his clothed abs. "I couldn't stop thinking about you. Like, the second you called me, all I could think about was you being right here… with me."

 _In lingerie_ … this is insane. "Look, look you're very pretty, don't get me wrong, but I gotta bounce." He actually wanted to leave because Cocotte's very presence was uncanny, and the very nature of her femininity was making something else stir _up_ in the hare but let's keep it PG… 17 or something. "So umm… can you get off of me?"

"Stay."

She suddenly became adamant. Her face was serious, looks like talking won't get him out of this. "But I have to go-"

" _Stay._ " She held onto him tighter, Dyspo started fighting against it and she kept his wrist against the bed while he was desperately trying to shake himself off of Cocotte… without hurting her, of course, and trying not to move too much because one extra movement could make something of her pop right the heck out and he didn't want that. "Don't fight against me, Dyspo!" She leaned in to him, now grinding against the man as he shook his head and hollered desperately.

" _NOOOOO!"..._ Three days.

 _Three days_ into Amorous Week, and the Pride Troopers have had their share of absolute _fuckery_. Legitimately, after every one's second bout of love-lust struck from their own friends, everyone chose to stay the heck away from each other up until today, this very day, where Belmod called Kahseral in and told him to call in at least seven of the other Troopers. By default, and for reasons unknown to everybody, Jiren was in the kitchen of the base at this time and they all assumed that he was just meditating or something. The other six were gathered together; there was Kahseral, Kunshi, Vuon, Zoiray, Tupper, and Kettol sitting in the living room.

Belmod was standing with Marcarita and Khai, the man was scratching his forehead in reluctant thought before sighing. "We need to talk."

"What is it, Lord Belmod?" Kahseral looked up at the God.

Belmod gestured with his hand. "There's been… weird happenings going on around here, has there?"

"Oh _yes_ , there _has_." The second Vuon said that, he shot a death glare at Kahseral. Pretty much everyone shot death glances at the respective people who pretty much tried to have _sexy times_ with them.

But Zoiray removed his glare from Kettol, and suddenly got really embarassed because of what Belmod's observation entailed. He didn't… he didn't _see_ what Kettol tried to do, did he? "H-how did you know about this?"

"Khai told me about this. He showed me the Observer and I saw Kunshi jumping on Toppo's back and… and trying to kiss his… his neck." Belmod shook his head, the imagery was horrible for his clown eyes.

Kunshi's eyes went wide. "Wait… wait-I did WHAT?" He then whipped his head to the others and shook it. "No no no, I _couldn't_ have!"

"Do you want the proof?" Khai frowned at him.

" _N-no_!" Frankly, if that were true, Kunshi would cry himself to sleep if he ever witnessed that. "That could explain why uhh… why Zoiray was doing what he did to me…"

"The hell did I do to you?" Zoiray gave him a look.

"YOU CARESSED MY DAMN CHEST, AND _OTHER PLACES!_ "

"I DID _NOT_!" Zoiray looked heavily disgusted. "Why would I -eugh, _eeww_ , the frick… with you and _that one_ over there, I dunno what's worse."

"The hell you mean ' _that one'_?" Kettol mocked Zoiray. "You threw me out of your window two days ago!"

"You tried to grope me!"

"What in _hell's hairline_ is wrong with all of you?" Tupper flailed his arms.

"What's wrong with _you?"_ Kahseral gave Tupper an angry look. "Over here sniffing my damn neck and shi-"

"To hell I never did that!"

"Yes you did!"

"Umm, what about you buying me a bunch of chocolates and trying to get sweet with me, _Kahseral_!" Vuon spat out the Commander's name.

Kahseral gave him a deep frown. "I never _once_ bought you chocolate! You can't even handle chocolate!"

The Gods and the Angel watched the spectacle unfold right in front of them. Khai blinked in confusion, Marcarita blinked in confusion, and Belmod tilted his head.

"What could possibly cause all of _this_?" Khai scratched his chin, and Marcarita shook her head.

"I don't know. But I'm sensing weird waves traveling around this base." The Angel held her staff a bit tighter, and Belmod shook his head in aggravation.

"HEY!"

The Pride Troopers went quiet at the sound of Belmod's booming voice. "All of you, _stop arguing_ for five minutes." Belmod waved his hands downward, as if gesturing to simmer down. He was about to say something else but stopped to lean over a bit to look at the kitchen area. "Jiren, I know you're in there."

"I am."

Jiren didn't leave the kitchen when he said that. In fact, his silence made everyone forget he was there in the first place.

Belmond furrowed a brow. "What are you doing?"

Jiren came around the entrance but didn't leave the kitchen. He gave Belmod his answer; a detailed shrug of his shoulders, before going back into the kitchen.

And also, because of the conversation the Troopers were having, Jiren had to isolate himself in the kitchen due to the whole thing with Toppo. That was _unbearable._

Khai and Marcarita blinked, the others exchanged looks and Belmod shrugged. "Okay, you know what, all of you listen…"

"Do you know of why this is happening?" Kahseral looked at the God of Destruction, who pretty much nodded angrily because he had _quite_ the answer to what, or _who_ , was causing this.

"I know _exactly_ why this is happening." He sensed something, another entity, within the base right now. They were, presumably, searching for where he was, because he knew that's all that this woman ever does. Indeed, someone had emerged from the kitchen wall, and they froze on the spot.

The first thing she did was look between the vexed Pride Troopers, and then setting her eyes on Belmod. "Oh…" Her green eyes went wide, because Belmod looked like he was going to unleash the ultimate tirade on her petite self. "Oh no…"

"JUST _WHAT_ DID YOU MANAGE TO DO NOW, DIA?!" The little fairy in question whipped her head back to see the man she's been trying to catch the attention of, albeit failed horribly. He stomped in with Marcarita right beside him, Anato following suit. "I _know_ this is your wrongdoing, trying to lure me in once again for the past several _centuries_. What have you done to my Pride Troopers?!"

"It was an accident!" The cupidress, now known as Dia, shook her head. "I swear I didn't mean to affect any of your Trooper people!"

"Wait…" Vuon frowned. "What is she talking about?"

" _She's_ been sending out these random… heart bullets or whatever the heck they are." Belmod gestured frustratedly as he spoke.

This made Kunshi, and everyone in the room slowly turn towards the cupidress in brewing anger. "You _what_?"

" _What?"_

" _You got us in this mess?"_

"It was an accident!" She repeated, but more frantically this time because these muscular dudes look scary. "I was, I was testing something out-"

"You were planning on using whatever _this_ was," Belmod gestured to the others in regards to their conflictions, "on _me_ , again!"

"I… I…" Dia's little heart couldn't lie. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want all of you to get hit by it at all. It wasn't my plan."

"Miss Dia," Khai stepped forward like a gentleman, with a posh hand on his chest, "I can tell that this was an accident on your part but… it's been 5,789 years now. Belmod doesn't… hold an interest to you."

Kunshi cocked his neck back. "What the fu-"

" _Five thousand years?!"_ Zoiray's eyes went wide, he looked back at the blushing cupidress. "How do you cling for _that_ long?"

Vuon gave the smaller a look, serving up tea without Zoiray's permission. "Zoiray, you're the _last_ person to saw anything."

"Shut your shit."

"Okay, okay, you know what?" Belmod waved his hands and interjected to stop a perpetual argument from arising again. And then, before speaking, he pinched the very bridge of his nose and sighed in annoyance before gesturing, the irritation clear on his face. "Just… just tell us how to get rid of this whole… _this_."

"The… the affection?" Dia said.

Belmod was losing his patience already. "No _shit_."

"Okay okay, umm, well…" Dia started to blush madly. "In order for the other person to be cured…" She twiddled her fingers, a little too apprehensive to share this information.

The Pride Troopers collectively leaned forward. " _Yesss_?"

Her cheeks were very pink and she started stuttering. "U-uhmm… you see, in order to get rid of t-these symptoms…"

"Just _out with it_ already!" Belmod exclaimed.

Dia closed her eyes, she knew this would garner _many_ 'a negative reactions. "The umm… the love interest of the person, would have to kiss the person that's attracted to them."

There was a long pause, a really _really_ long pause before everyone, including Marcarita, reacted. " _ **WHAT?!**_ "

Before anyone could speak any further, they all heard the sound of a glass hitting the floor in the kitchen. This made everyone jump once again, because they completely forgot that there was a seventh person within the base and said person was listening to that whole spiel of a conversation. While everyone else was refusing to go within ten feet of one another, they all had their attention on the kitchen entrance. Belmod was the first to approach the entrance, with everyone else following suit. They all leaned in to see the interior of the entire kitchen.

"Jiren?" Marcarita frowned, pretty much everyone did, when they saw a highball glass completely broken and scattered on the ground. Everything else was _untouched_ and right where it was supposed to be, the only offset of the quiet kitchen was that _one_ glass. And as for Jiren…

He was _nowhere_ to be found.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **I just realized this might be the gayest chapter I've ever written.**

 **...**

 **Here's a thing though… I made the cupidress' name Dia and she's after Belmod so if you mix the two it sounds like Diamond, idk lol.**

 **I think y'all could predict** _ **why**_ **they didn't see Jiren. But as for this love induction, it's only as strong as the bond between the two is. For example, Vuon and Kettol aren't that close, so the way Vuon is with him only gradually gets stronger. In a case like Dyspo and Cocotte, the** _ **exact**_ **opposite happens, and for Toppo and Jiren (since their friendship is sort of one-sided) Toppo will be very emotional and soon-to-become frontworth about his 'love' for Jiren.**

 **Also, prolonged exposure of** _ **any kind**_ **to the person makes it worse. The longer you stay with them, the more intense the affects get.**


	15. Amorous Week Shambles: El Sequel

**Inb4 I see Jiren's origin, Inb4 I had one in mind…** _ **Inb4**_ **the idea I had was** _ **way too long**_ **and intricate, but could fit with what was given in Super.**

 **Well, shid… Anyways;**

 **HAPPY VALENTINES DAY,** _ **KEK**_ **! Hope you guys are eating all of the chocolate you can muster today, regardless of who you're with or not.**

 **Warning, and lowkey bad news: there is gonna be kissing in this chapter… I'm sorry. And also, this and the last chapter aren't canon to the bloopers themselves; they're just specials and parodies of '** _ **Single Week'.**_

 **Here is the GOOD NEWS though: Given the fact that there is still six days left of Amorous Week, the Gods of U11 have been contemplating on behalf of how to stop this mess of a situation, and Belmod luckily has found a solution at the last minute. But… will it prevent** _ **everyone**_ **from having to do the unthinkable? We'll see.**

 **There won't be another chapter for a while because winter break is coming through, stay tuned however because this won't end!**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Amourous Week Shambles Pt.2**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

The second Dia voiced her solution to this problem they've all been having, the Grey had zipped right out of the kitchen and into the hallway of the upper room. He already figured that something must've broke considering the speed he traveled at, but that just personifies the very train of his thought as that information was being processed, and he processed it _way too quickly_. Even as he walked down the hallway to his room later that night, he was _morally_ terrified of the idea of touching Toppo, not to mention with his lips.

This man had already had enough. He can't even look Toppo in the eyes _knowing_ that the man uttered the most powerful phrase in all of empathetic history while staring into Jiren, while _holding_ him like… like they were something other than sworn damn friends. How do you look at someone again who had the eyes that could _pour_ emotion on top of you? You just _can't_ , and despite knowing now that he was on a spell, Jiren still can't shake that though off his head. He went to his door, opened it, and turned the lights on...

He turned his lights on…

He turned his _fucking_ lights on, and realized that he was not alone in this room.

There _he_ was, there the leader of the Pride Troopers was, apparently having bedazzled Jiren's room with rose petals and light rose incense for the atmosphere. And he was in a seductive laying position on Jiren's barely used bed, rose petals also circled Toppo's body.

"I've been waiting for you… Jiren."

And… and the _creme de la creme_ of this situation; Toppo was not wearing any shirt or pants. Or socks, or shoes, or any article of normal clothing. All he had on around his big waist, was this belt accessory that closely resembled Belmod's, but it was shorter and in a softer, black fabric that barely past half his thighs. It did cover a part of him that _hopefully_ will _stay_ covered, and his left hand ran traces around his chest area.

Meanwhile, Jiren just stood there, patted lips, confused face, blinking multiple times with his hand still on the light switch. And then he felt a really weird shiver run down his back because… this is was one of those things where you suddenly don't like your life anymore, and have the urgent need to move out and start a new one. Not only was this someone he came to know, this was _Toppo_ ; do we have to stress his body proportions on behalf of this situation? The loincloth was barely visible because of his damn _stomach_ , for crying out silently.

That's what Jiren might do if this escalates any further. Why was he still standing there you may ask? Because he's Frozen and can't _unsee_ what he's seeing.

"Are you okay?"

 _Am I okay?_ Toppo really _just_ asked him that? Jiren cocked his neck back and then shook his head softly with a scrunched up frown on his face. " _Why?_ "

Imagine how fucking funny creeped out, freaked out, and confused Jiren looks. The author is evil for this, geez.

"I spent the past few hours gathering things to make your room look beautiful while you were gone." Toppo smiled and started to get up from his seductive position. _Oh no_. "Just like you."

The author wants to say that Jiren literally looks like an unlit light bulb. Go get a clean light bulb, and hold it to Jiren's head, tell me they are not similar.

Toppo got up, and Jiren could see the loincloth at least. But that just meant that Toppo probably wasn't wearing any _undergarments_ , so if he were to turn around umm… The Grey took a step back as Toppo started to approach him. "Toppo, get _away_ from me. I'm warning you."

"Jiren, Jiren, Jiren…" Toppo said his name, and then he transmissioned himself to stand right in front of Jiren and went to grasp him by the hips, but Jiren slapped his hands away. "Why are you being so feisty for?"

"I don't want you touching me." Jiren gave him a death glare, refusing to push any power out of his eyes because he now knew that Toppo was under some sort of spell and wasn't doing this on his volition. "Go. Get out of my room."

"But-"

" _Out. Now_." Jiren leaned back, swerving his whole body and then taking Toppo by the arms and started shoving him towards his door. That was a bit of an uncanny action on Jiren's part, but Toppo's face was too close to him and at that moment Dia's words were playing in his mind.

'... _you have to kiss the person that's in love with you.'_

 _Yeaaaaah_ , Jiren's _not_ doing that, must to you guys' dismay. I know you all wanna see these two _express_ their pure, ultimate… I can't even finish that sentence, god dammit.

Toppo suddenly got forceful; he took Jiren by the wrist and abruptly slammed him against the wall. Did this love spell come with increased _power_ or something? How did Toppo manage to do this so quickly, even Jiren was confused as to where this rough behavior came from. However, Toppo's eyes were soft and his gaze was nothing short of pure love for the man before him. "I did all of this to express my love for you, Jiren. Do you not like what you see?"

 _By the Gods…_ Never in his long life did Jiren hate the way someone said his name.

"No. I don't." He was still maintaining his cool somehow, he pushed Toppo right off of him a little too much and the other toppled over himself, his head hit the wall but his legs were upward as he slid shortly. And then they plopped down on the ground, and he was unconscious. Not only that but the loincloth flew up with his legs… it was then that Jiren figured out that Toppo really did have no underwear beneath that loincloth…

It's quite ridiculous to see a muscular Grey alien shake his head rapidly, saying ' _no_ ' repeatedly while dipping out of this premise. Screw meditating in his damn room, Jiren will just leave this man here. Anyone who finds him can cry just as much as Jiren would've if he still could. He kept his gaze downwards. "I'm leaving this planet."

Only he could say that so casually, without it sounding like a suicide mission.

While this man was backing the fuck out of his room, the rest of the base was mostly quiet. Cocotte and Vuon were the only two within the lobby room, and he was telling her about the whole bout of this _lovestruck_ potion that hit the guys of the Troop. He told her about why it started, and the effects that it had on the men. Of course, Cocotte laughed her ass off at how utterly stupid such a thing was, and also at Kahseral trying to woo Vuon as well.

"It's not funny!" Vuon shot up in his seat. "There were _many_ instances these guys told me about, and they're horrifying!"

"Is that why you all are staying far away from each other?" She wiped her eyes and adjusted her crop top. "Oh man, this is true gold."

She wondered why he hadn't called her ever since this whole week had started. No, she doesn't recall almost molesting Dyspo three nights ago.

"Cocotte," Vuon narrowed his eyes, "Kunshi told me, that Dyspo told him that you were nearly naked in front of him trying to pin him down on your bed."

"What the _fuck_ , why would Dyspo say that?!" Cocotte stood up, it didn't hit her for a moment and then she stopped, recalling how she was sitting on her bed wearing this raunchy outfit she had bought earlier before that day. "Oh… oh shit…"

"Wait, it's _real_?" Vuon's eyes went wide.

"What do you mean 'it's real'?!" Cocotte shot a look at him. "You're the one who adamantly brought it up!"

"Because it sounds way too ridiculous to be _fathomable_ like, you and Dyspo never cross that line. Ever." Vuon made a sweeping motion with his arms, emphasizing his point.

"So… so he was _there_?" Cocotte looked down, suddenly feeling _really_ bad. "And he _saw_ me in that?"

"Well, according to him, yes." Vuon nodded. "He also asked me if you were in this base today since he was planning on coming here." Cocotte nodded as Vuon spoke. "Literally, mid-driving, I told Dyspo that you were, and I _swear_ I heard him straight up pull a U-turn seconds later."

Cocotte looked down at the ground. "I need to ask him myself, seriously. I'll talk to him in private."

"Uhhh," Vuon tilted his head, shaking it slightly, "you'd rather _not_ do that in private."

"Why not?"

"As far as I know, none of us have actually _witnessed_ anything weird whenever another person is around. As far as I can _tell_ , that whole love stuff happens when you're alone with the person."

"So I gotta be _supervised_?!" Cocotte crossed her arms and scoffed. "Why would this even affect me? I'm not even a weak hearted person or some shit."

"Apparently, that doesn't matter. _Everyone_ we know has it." Vuon said. "Literally everyone."

"But what about Jiren?" She frowned. "He's not been affected at all. I don't think anyone has anything on him."

Vuon made a face, making Cocotte frown, and then he sighed. "Umm, Jiren was in the kitchen when we were told we had to kiss one another. We heard broken glass in the kitchen and when we went to check, he was gone."

"Oh shit." Cocotte couldn't help but laugh because she's getting the imagery of Jiren making a shocked face, and then dropping a glass afterwards. "My gosh, poor man."

"Poor _all of us_." Vuon sighed. "I think we relayed the message to Toppo and Dyspo, so they know what's gone down and why." He shook his head, he's pretty sure _everyone_ is going to be super awkward towards one another for an entire month after this. His phone started to ring, and he swiped it on to see that it was Tupper calling him. "I gotta take this."

"Who is it?"

"Tupper." Vuon was leaving the room. "You don't need to worry, Dyspo isn't here."

"Shush it." Cocotte made a notion of throwing the couch pillow at Vuon who hopped right out the door. He had left, and she was left there to sigh to herself over this situation; she couldn't _imagine_ ever pinning down Dyspo. She needed some time to think at least, because this was _way too much_. She had decided, despite no one being in this lobby room, to go to the instrument room, that place for some reason sparks calmness in the minds of the Troopers.

And speaking of calm, and _speaking_ of isolation, Jiren was actually in that room right now, sitting down and wondering if he had just saw what he had saw. And yes, he knew he did see it but… _but did he see it?_ Denial isn't even something that's in Jiren, his mind is way too open to unsee things he doesn't want to see. And now, _now_ he's reduced to sitting at least a hundred feet away from his room, immersed in trying to rid his mind of the last few days because to be quite frank… he felt dirty even _looking_ at Toppo now.

Jiren almost didn't feel the sensation of something going up and into his back, in fact the force wasn't even strong enough to alert him in any way. The only thing that was brought to his attention was the way the inside of his chest felt all of the sudden; it got really warm for a nanosecond, and then the feeling disappeared completely. He didn't feel anything on his hands or feet, only in that one area, and he frowned while looking down at his chest. Feeling it dissipate immediately afterwards, he dismissed it and went back to keeping his gaze downcast.  
It was around this time that Cocotte walked into the instrument room. She sighed to herself and stopped in her tracks when she saw that she was not alone in this room.  
If these last two chapters weren't absolutely parodical, I would have said this was an event of _déjà vu_.

"Oh." Cocotte saw Jiren sitting on the hanging sofa. He was swinging very softly and the back of his head was facing her. Cocotte continued approaching until she was to the right of the hanging sofa, seeing him do the usual sitting down and crossing his arms and legs thing. "Hey, Jiren."

He looked _really_ weirded out by something, but his eyes didn't go towards her. She can tell he was deep in thought but she had _never_ seen him look so conflicted, _ever_. So she went to sit right next to him and she leaned forward so that he could at _least_ see her face. That worked, though she waved a hand in a windshield wiper fashion in front of his face. "Are you okay?"

He blinked at her, leaning away from her a little because his personal space bubble is huge and for other reasons. He almost didn't answer her question because of how close she was. "...Yes."

Simple answer. Cocotte expected that. She moved away a bit and propped one leg on top of the other. "I dunno, you look really confused about something. What happened?"

"Nothing."

His reply would've been normal, if he didn't look at her like she had four shoulders. Or rather, Cocotte couldn't identify the look on his face; she can't tell if he's still freaked out a bit, or if he's confused, or if he's seeing a archnid crawl out of her nose. In fact he was still leaning over slightly, even though she moved. Assuming it was just him being shook by something, she continued being playful with him. "Are you _sure?_ "

The second her smile bloomed on her face, Jiren stop leaning over but the look on his face got supplemented with a few blinks. Now she can place a sense of… timidness in his gaze. "Yes."

There was a pause, she gave him a long narrowed look before nodding, her hair bobbing with her head as she did so. "Fine, just checking."

"Ok." Was all he said, and he stared at her for a bit longer, before abruptly shifting in his seat, turning himself away from her while keeping his arms crossed.

Cocotte frowned, since when did Jiren blatantly try to log out of a conversation like this? _Now_ she can see the timidness in his actions. "Umm, Jiren." She placed a hand on his shoulder, which made him slightly turn his head but not enough to fully look at her. "Why did you turn away from me?"

Jiren didn't answer her, he just continued to give her a very shy looking side-eye. Cocotte had to stand up and stand right next to him with her hand still on his shoulder, she leaned forward a bit. "What's up with you?"

He was looking up at her now, his big eyes gave him more of a timid look and Cocotte _honestly_ found it super cute. He didn't say anything for a short amount of time, and then finally breaks it to her. "You look nice today."

Cocotte cocked her neck back, since when did Jiren _compliment_ somebody upfront like that? Even though he looked really shy, he didn't show any of that in his voice at all. Then, the reality of this hit her like a truck; _he's affected by this too!_ She giggled a bit. "Thank you, that's so sweet."

He looked down and _away_ from her direction, then back at her hand and took it by her fingers to look at the back of her palm. He was only loosely holding her hand while staring at her face. Cocotte furrowed her brows but still couldn't help but smile, _he's so cute when he's shy._

She no longer felt _that_ bad.

For a moment, she thought he was going to pull her down to his lap, but he didn't. He just held her hand and kept his gaze on her. They stayed silent for a long time, Cocotte smiling and looking down every now and then because this whole situation was so pure. Now that she knew he had an induction to her, Cocotte figured she would be spending more time in this base than she thought. Besides, she's single… what else would she rather be doing?

Also, he wouldn't remember a _thing_ that was done while he's like this… think about that.

Someone was calling Cocotte's name outside of this room, she turned to the door knowing that it was Vuon. "Yeah?"

Several seconds later, Vuon opened the door and looked at the woman in the room. "Whatcha doin' here?"

Cocotte smiled. "I'm ju-" And then she stopped mid-sentence, realizing she wasn't feeling anything against her hand. She looked down to where Jiren was sitting, only to see that he wasn't there anymore. She started looking around the room, behind her, above her, below her, every possible direction while whispering 'what the hell' to herself. "Where-?"

"Where what?"  
Did Vuon not see Jiren? Did Jiren leave the room even before Vuon could stick his head into the room? _How?_ "I... I just, he was _right here_!"

Vuon frowned. "Who?"

"Jiren!" Cocotte gesticulated slightly, she ran a hand through her long locks. "He was literally sitting right here!"

"What are you talking about?" Vuon looked really confused, having completely entered the room he also was looking about, as if this buff alien was hard to find. "There is literally no way he could've been in this room." Was she hallucinating? Vuon looked at her. "He wasn't in here at all."

"He was!" Cocotte proclaimed.

"How the fuc- okay." Vuon turned around and called out Jiren's name. There was a twenty two out of fifty four chance that he might answer back, though. "Jiren!"

After several seconds the both of them heard footsteps coming towards the room's entrance. And then they stopped, a pause ran through shortly after, and the door creaked open to reveal a straight faced Jiren.

"What?"

"Were you here just now?" Vuon asked. If this were someone else, that question would have been deemed retarded.

Jiren furrowed a brow. "No."

"See?!" Vuon looked back at Cocotte.

"Dude, he was sitting right here!" Cocotte gestured dramatically to the sofa in front of her. "Jiren was right in front of me just before you opened the door."

Now, both of the men were looking at her like she had four shoulders and eight heads. Jiren crossed his arms, looking over how frustrated the woman was. "Are you okay?"

His question was void of any emotion or concern. Cocotte turned to him and blinked, _holy shit... He doesn't remember doing that just now!_ "I-I'm fine, thank you very much."

Jiren raised a brow, then responded with a low 'hmmm', and proceeded to walk out of the room, once again leaving the two alone. Vuon shrugged. "Told you." Cocotte proceeded to bop Vuon's Dino Tail looking head before walking out of the room.

"Well, excuse me!"

Cocotte ignored him. The only major thing running through her head wasn't the whole Dyspo situation, but rather Jiren being on this love spell now. It was wrong, and we know it, but she found that he was favorable in this state. As far as she knew, and according to Vuon, the love spell only occurs when the person is left alone with the one they are attracted to. So… Cocotte figured; maybe it gets stronger the more they see the person, how far could this go? She smirked, she _needed_ to print out a photo of herself.

Deem this to be a _very evil_ ploy on her part...

* * *

Two and then some days after that night marks the fifth day into Amorous Week. For the most part, everyone has spent the majority of their time away from certain others, but sometimes a few of them would regroup into Netfiss' base. Less than half of the group did the most conservative thing and stayed their asses home, while the other half would reenter the base regardless of whether or not they'd run into an admirer, and sneaking along the place as if this were Metal Gear Solid.

A simple push of his Trooper watch, and the sound for an incoming call started playing. Toppo looked downwards while sitting on his bed in his _own_ house, tapping his finger against his nightstand and hoping that Kahseral would at least pick up.

"Yellow?"

Annnnd he did. "Hello, Kahseral." Toppo chuckled, accidentally letting the nervousness in him creep up in that titter.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine uhh…" He scratched the back of his head. "I think what you told me may be correct, about the whole love spell thing."

Kahseral was laying on his master bed with his wife right beside him, one arm over her shoulders and the other holding his watch. "You didn't think I wasn't when I first told you?"

"W-well no, umm…" Toppo struggled to maintain a timbre that _wasn't_ apprehensive. "I know the deal is true considering _Kunshi_ but, I didn't think all of us had it. I thought it was just a select few and umm… it's made apparent that I was affected too."

Kahseral frowned, but felt an unknown sinking in his gut because of that info. All he could think about was how Tupper was, and can't imagine Toppo being that way with whoever he had a spell on. _Well._ "How did you figure that out?"

Toppo spoke without losing a beat. "I was in Jiren's room two nights ago, and the whole room was littered with roses and I was half naked lying his floor." More like _ninety nine percent_ naked, Toppo left out the fact that he woke up feeling breeze in his nether regions.

It took a long moment for Kahseral to register what just came out of Toppo's mouth. He even leaned forward with a scrunched up face. " _What?_ Toppo, _Toppo_ …"

"Kahseral? What's wrong?" His wife looked at him with a frown and he held his hand up in reassurance.

"Nothing's wrong, hun." Kahseral smiled at her and she tilted her head, though he went back to his phone conversation. The pieces came together almost instantly, and he felt like the food he ate a few hours ago was not sitting right all of the sudden. "So… so you're… you got _Jiren_?"

He had to be careful with his wording because he didn't his wife to know that his friend had an inductive love spell on his own sworn friend, and said sworn friend probably has PTSD from that encounter, now that he thought about it. _Who wouldn't?_

"Y-yes…" Toppo said. "I haven't seen him ever since, and I-I don't want to contact him because umm…" Because Jiren _possibly_ saw him 'half' naked, and that's enough for any guy friend to ignore you for a week. And since it's Jiren, let's make it a year or more. "It would be awkward."

"Jiren knows about the situation at hand." Kahseral said. "If anything, I'm certain he's probably gone back to doing his normal day-to-day things." Jiren is way too stone-like to get ruffled over seeing something obscene. He probably wiped the memory out of his giant mind. And Kahseral would be right, because Jiren was meditating ever since two mornings ago.

Getting that fucked up image out of his head, of course.

"Are you forgetting about what we have to do to _rectify_ this?"

Kasheral didn't forget, he just chose not to remember. "Yep. Yeah, I do."

Toppo shook his head at the thought of having to do that to Jiren. That almost sounds like _punishment_. "S-so then I'd have to-"

"Toppo, I'm pretty sure Lord Belmod is currently getting more answers on how we can evade _that_." Kahseral said. "I know he's currently asking Dia about other ways to end this spell…"

* * *

"You know what to do."

"Lord Belmod, I don't…" Zoiray shook his head. "I don't think this is gonna work…"

Belmod crossed his arms authoritatively, standing in the hallway of the Netfiss base, right in front of a door. "Why would you say that? Khai said this would be the perfect substitute for kissing."

" _Chocolate?_ " Zoiray frowned down at the little bar in his hand. "Chocolate would fix this problem? Why would Khai say this?"

Because Khai, like most bad people of the world, hates chocolate. He even leaves the room when Belmod is around with even _one_ chocolate bar in hand. Zamasu would _flame_ Khai to no end if he were here.

"I don't know, but just _try it!_ " Belmond knelt down to push Zoiray towards the door that was behind him. Kettol was in there and the man was taking a nap.

"B-but I don't wanna get groped again!" Zoiray shook his head. "It felt weird…"

"Listen," Belmod sternly looked at him, "All you have to do is stuff the chocolate down his throat."

"But what if it doesn't _work_?" Zoiray looked up at the God.

"Trust me," no, trust _Khai_ , "this will work. Go, go now." Belmod opened the door and literally nudged Zoiray in the back with his foot, much to his vocal dismay. The second Zoiray was fully in the room, Belmod closed the door, and teleported into a secretive premise where there was a small globe that showed Kettol's room.

Kettol was asleep, sitting up against his bed board with the pillows cushioning his lower back. His mouth was slightly parted, and Zoiray looked down at the bar in his hand; this might just be _easier_ than he thought. He tiptoed over to Kettol's sleeping body and hopped onto his bed with dainty feet, and tiptoed even slower towards Kettol's face. He snapped a piece of chocolate off and winced at the sound (when you're trying to be quiet everything is 400 times louder, dammit) before angling his hand right above Kettol's and making sure he wasn't gonna choke this dude with the piece of chocolate.

"What is taking him so long?" Belmod frowned down at the surveillance-like globe. "Just drop the thing in already!"

Right before Zoiray would release the chocolate, his left foot accidentally touched a remote that set off the music player, making him jump when Kettol's eyes shot open and he lost grip of the bar and the chocolate, throwing it behind him and falling on his ass.

Belmod facepalmed so hard he could've bruised his face.

"Wow…" Kettol looked around, and then back at Zoiray, "You put on music for the both of us? You _really_ know how to set the mood, hun _._ "

 _Shit._ Not to mention, the song that started playing was some groovy nu-funk type deal, and Zoiray absolutely loves nu-funk. He scrambled off the bed before Kettol could grab him. "H-hey, Kettol, umm-"

"Got you!" This fish man jumped right off his bed and pounced onto little Zoiray, aking the smaller scream in terror before he would grab Zoiray by the arms.

"GET YOUR BODY OFF'A ME!" Zoiray wiggled his tiny body off of Kettol's grasp. He stumbled up to his feet and started running for the door.

"Zoiray…" Kettol called out.

"NO!" Zoiray hopped up and held the knob of the door frantically. Because he's short, this particular knob didn't work the say way most knobs did so he can't pull his body down in order to open it. It sucks being like eighteen inches tall, and despite how messed up this was Belmod was sitting safely while snickering slightly at the sight of Zoiray hanging. "STAY BACK!"

Too late; Zoiray felt two hands against his… his hips? Does he even have hips? I dunno, his _sides_ , and was pulled away from the doorknob with Kettol holding him up. If any one of us were in the room we would think Kettol was about to start singing _The Circle Of Life_. "You know how long it's been since I've seen you, sweetie?"

Zoiray shook his head violently, _please unsee me._

"I think our consolidation is well overdue." His grip got a bit more firm and Zoiray started thrashing. "We'll spend the rest of this time with one another, isn't that ri- _oooh, chocolate!"_

As if the Gods above have blessed Zoiray with the grace of _clutch_ , Kettol instantly dropped him and went for the chocolate bar on the ground. He _dived_ for it, grabbing the bar and taking a bite out of it, while Zoiray dusted himself off slightly panting.

"You fucking _dick_!" Zoiray pointed at him. "I'm not here for your fucking bullshit, put your hands on me _one more time_ ; I _swear_ I'll throw you right out the damn window!" There was a pause, because Kettol was still chewing and once he swallowed, he response was borderline confused.

"Uhh… what?" Kettol turned around and looked at him. "What are you talking about?" He looked down at the chocolate. "And why the hell did I just eat chocolate? _Eugck_." He started wiping his tongue with the back of his wrist while making disgusted noises, and the smaller Pride Trooper had saucer-wide eyes.

"Kettol…?" Zoiray took a careful step forward, the other fish Trooper was still on the ground and he glanced at Zoiray with his wrist still in front of his tongue.

" _Wat_?" His voice was slightly muffled, but it made Zoiray grow a relieving smile on his face.

"KETTOL!" He's _back to normal!_ He ran and pretty much embrace Kettol, who damn near pushed him off.

"What the fu- you just went off on me for allegedly touching you and now you wanna hug me?"

"No, no, you're _back!_ " Zoiray held his arms up happily. "You're not trying to molest me anymore!"

"Wait… wait, _what_?" Kettol looked around as if there was some semblance of evidence to that statement. "I tried to _what_? And what is this trash playing on my VMP?"

That soured Zoiray's hype up mood. "Nu-funk is not trash, you uncultured oar."

"IT WORKED!" Belmod yelled happily, clapping his hands together and then teleporting into the room. "You've done it, Zoiray!"

"Okay I'm confused." Kettol raised two hands. "Y'guys trying to get me sick?"

"No no," Belmod shook his head, "Khai found an alternative solution to this love spell and it involves eating chocolate. Apparently, chocolate seems to grab the attention of the person on the spell which makes it easier."

"Holy shit…" Kettol looked down and then his eyes lit up. "WE HAVE TO TELL EVERYONE THIS! Where's everybody right now?"

"Uhh, I can call Vuon and maybe Tupper and Kahseral and a few others. I dunno about Toppo and Dyspo, and I'm pretty Jiren is trying to cut ties with everybody for the rest of the week." Zoiray snorted to himself. "I'll try my best to get this to everyone."

Just as he said that, someone knocked on the door. A quick frown was exchanged between the three men before Kettol opened the door, revealing Khai, along with Vuon, Kahseral, and Tupper. "Supreme Khai!"

Khai nodded in acknowledgement. "I assumed that this theory I had in mind stands correct, yes?"

"Yes." Belmod nodded proudly. "Kettol is fully cured, he's not under a spell anymore, even when they are alone." He then harrumphed with a smile on his face. "I knew this would work!"

" _Ahem_."

"Oh…" Belmod blinked down at Khai's cross look. "I knew _your_ plan would work."

"Sure." Khai suppressed a smirk, while the other Pride Troopers raised questions.

"Wait so… all we have to do… is feed the other some _chocolate?_ "

" _Eew_ ," Vuon scrunched his nose, "But I hate chocolate."

"It'll _work_!" Zoiray insisted. "Do you wanna continue trying to get with Kettol?" Kettol shivered.

Vuon shook his head violently. "No!"

"Then…" Zoiray pointed to the bar. "Go in another room, and let Kettol do _exactly_ what I did; give Vuon the chocolate!"

Kettol looked over at Vuon with a _bitch just do it_ look. He was not having Vuon try to flirt with him again. "Come one, man."

"Chocolate tastes ba-"

"COME. THE FUCK. WITH. _ME_!" Kettol shoved Vuon out of the room, and into the hallway. Moments later, the other heard the sound of someone's back slamming against the wall and _presumably,_ Kettol may have mistimed his attempt at curing Vuon. His yelp on the other end of the wall confirmed that fact, and the others winced hoping that one of them wouldn't burst through the door. That didn't happen, however; there was silence on the other end, the door opened to reveal Kettol and Vuon standing side by side with smiles on their faces.

"Guess who's not trying to makeout with me anymore?" Kettol smirked, like a prick he decided to use the worst wording possible.

Vuon hit his chest. "Could you _not_ mention that ever again?"

"Fucking- Zoiray," Kunshi called the smaller Trooper, "Get over here, we gotta do this shit too."

Zoiray paused, and then he shrugged. "Alright then. How many things of chocolate are left?"

"More than half the bar is still in my hand, bro." Kettol said. "Go, it works like a charm."

As Kunshi walked out of the room followed by Zoiray, Khai's eyes followed the two. He tilted head. "You know what I just realized?"

"What did you realize?" Kunshi turned back to the Kaioshin, who was holding back a face.

"You two are very short." And it looks funny seeing these two walk out together. A loud snort erupted from behind everybody, it came from Belmod.

"I'm sorry." The Destroyer raised hands up at the sullied faced short people of the group, the others held back their laughter. Zoiray and Kunshi left the room, as Zoiray was closing the door Kunshi looked down at the bar in his hand.

"Wait… wait, what if we just stay in the room and eat the chocolate instead of leaving an-" he felt a hand creep up his upper thigh, and whipped himself around and back to look at little Zoiray.

" _Kunshiiii…_ " Zoiray had his mouth open, about to say something more, and Kunshi snapped a piece of chocolate right the heck off. He wasn't taking this any longer, so he tossed the little piece right into his mouth with the quickness of _clutch_. Zoiray paused momentarily to taste the chocolate in his mouth, he started chewing before looking down at his feet.

"Hold on… is this milk chocolate?"

"I'm pretty sure it is." Kunshi smirked, relief rushing through his face. "Looks like you're cured."

Zoiray looked at him and chuckled. "I _bet_."

Kunshi took a piece off and ate one himself. "You think if I eat this now, I'll be cured later?"

"I hope." Zoiray took the bar out of his hand. "We're gonna have to get another thing of chocolate."

"There's enough to cure everyone in Kettol's room and _then_ some." Kunshi furrowed a brow.

"Not after I eat some of it." Zoiray tossed another piece into his mouth, he smiled at the sweet and savory taste. The both of them heard someone dashing up the stairs and turning the hallway towards where they are. They both looked over silently, hearing the footsteps slow down and go completely silent.

Cocotte thought that there was nobody present when she would turn the corner. The only thing she would have to worry about possibly is Kettol, but usually when he takes a nap he stays asleep for many hours. She held the picture in her hand, looking down at it with a scheming smile before stopping in her tracks, hearing the voices of Kunshi and Zoiray in the hallway she was supposed to go, and those voices stopped possibly hearing her feet hit the floor.

And to _think_ she could have taken the shortest route to where she needed to be.

Cocotte turned around and decided to go the long way, which included another stair level to go up and another hallway to cross over before going back down the second pair of stairs. In a way, that was a bit of a shorter walking distance from the stairs to Jiren's room, but the amount of extracurricular pathway you have to take is what makes it annoying. However, she can't risk letting them see what she's been up to.

"Who is that?"

She refused to answer, she just fast walked. The hallway itself was _long_ as hell, and she can hear the two approaching the corner. _Shit, shit shit shi-_

"Cocotte?"

Nope, instead of the two people that could've caught her on the other end of the hall, the elevator doors she walked by opened, and Toppo was the one who called out her name. "What are you holding?"

" _Nothing_." She hid the picture by keeping the picture against her stomach. _T_ _he eleva_ _tor works now?!_

"Cocotte!" Zoiray turned the corner and saw the two, followed by Kunshi. He jogged his way towards her and the leader. "We found out a way to get rid of the- what is that in your arms?"

"Nothing, just…" Cocotte shook her head. "Just tell me about what you found."

"Well, we will tell you if you tell us what that is." Kunshi said. "It looks like photo paper; is it a picture?"

She gave him a sassface response. "It is none of your concern, Kunshi."

"You guys!" Tupper and the other were over here jogging to where the four Troopers were. "Are you all seriously hogging the damn chocolate bar? I don't wanna have to go downstairs to get another one."

"These idiots went off on their own with it," Vuon shook his head, "Do you guys not realize that we _need_ that shit?!"

Kahseral held out a bossy hand. "Zoiray, give us the damn bar!"

Now Toppo and Cocotte, who have no clue of what is going, both exchanged looks before the leader looked at the others. "Is there something I'm missing here?"

Kunshi looked at toppo but didn't say anything because… _awkward_ , so Vuon answered for him, "Chocolate cures us of the love spell."

"WHAT?!" Toppo exclaimed, nearly throwing his arms up and almost hitting Cocotte in the face, though he apologized for the brash movement. "You mean to tell me I can just eat chocolate instead of the _other_ option?"

"Yup." Kahseral smiled proudly. "All thanks to Supreme Khai." If you're wondering why the prefix 'Supreme' is there in place of his name, it's because Khai sounds like kai and he prides himself on that fact.

...A lot of the Shinjin get of annoyed with him over that, too.

Cocotte looked downwards. "So feeding chocolate gets rid of the spell? What if they don't like chocolate?"

"Bro, the love spell makes the person _crave_ chocolate." Zoiray said. "So getting rid of the spell shit would be much easier than outright kissing them."

Now that made _two_ things she needed to keep Jiren away from. "Oh…"

"Are you good? Why do you look dejected?" Tupper frowned.

Kahseral snickered all of the sudden, a funny Dyspo-esque thought popped up in his head. "Lemme guess; Jiren's on the love spell too, and you're jealous, ain't ya?"

Cocotte swung her face at him. "FUCK OUT OF HERE! HOW DID YOU KNOW?!"

"Wait… seriously?" Kahseral blinked, pretty much everyone else shared the sentiment, and then Zoiray pointed to the picture.

"Is that what that picture is for?"

"You don't need to know." She straightfaced.

"Is it a _nude_ picture, Cocotte?" Zoiray put his hands on his hips. "You know how _strong_ this spell is, man? Do you want him to jerk off to your-"

" _Okay Zoiray,_ that is _enough_." Toppo raised his hands up, refraining from letting him continue any further. "What is it, even?"

"It's just a picture of me and my friend at a roller skate park." She said. "She sent the photo to me."

"I WANNA SEE IT!" Zoiray ran towards her and she held it closer to her body.

"NO!"

"Then you're lying." He narrowed his eyes. "If Jiren in love with someone else, why be zealous over it?"

Cocotte… decided to come clean. "He… he doesn't like someone else."

"Then who?" Tupper asked, before it dawned on him. "Wait, HE LIKES _YOU_?!"

"...yeah…" She looked downwards.

"Ummm… hello? Voice of reason here." Khai approached the group. "Why did you all run out of the room?" He held up a brand new chocolate bar, completely unopened and untouched.

Kettol blinked. "Woah, where'd you get that from?"

Khai blinked several times at that obvious ass question. "I… I'm a Kaioshin. I can create things, remember?"

"Oh, whoops." Kettol scratched the back of his head. "My bad; brain sneeze."

Fish don't sneeze, by the way.

"That's fine, that's okay." Khai is a shady prick, he says it's okay but in the back of his head he was _close_ to asserting who he is. "Now, I'm sure you two and you two haven't had a shot of this yet. Zoiray…" He paused when he looked at Zoiray's hand, "Zoiray, did you eat the _entire_ bar?"

That thing was enough to feed like fifteen people. Zoiray looked down at the wrapper in his hand, and licked his teeth behind his closed mouth. "I don't know."

"Fatass."

"Shut up Kettol, _no one asked you_."

"Just, just let's have it." Kahseral took the bar and motioned to Tupper.

"Wait," Tupper stopped, "What about you and Toppo?"

"Snap one off and toss it over to him." Kunshi pointed with his thumb at Toppo before turning around to him. Of course, by default, Toppo evaded eyes for a moment. "I promise this will _work_ , Toppo."

"I reckon to hope it would." Was all he said as he caught the chocolate piece in his hand. He looked down at Kunshi and nodded towards him. "Do we need to be secluded?"

Kunshi sheepishly answered. "Yeah…" That turned a heavy sigh from Toppo. "If I do anything weird, just shove it down my-"

"Just what?"

"Zoiray, this is NOT the time!" Kunshi pointed an objective finger at him. "Let's get this over with."

Kahseral turned to Tupper. "We'll do this _quick_."

" _Definitely_." The 'stached Trooper nodded, and two left the others to be. Now, Zoiray, Cocotte, Vuon and Kettol stood amongst each other.

"Now all we need is Dyspo and Jiren and every single one of us will be cured." Vuon shrugged and scratched the back of his head.

Zoiray flashed a look at Cocotte who glared at him. "What's wrong, Coco?"

" _Nothing._ " She insisted, before walking into the elevator and leaving the three to continue on with what she was planning on doing. The men decided to leave her be, looking between one another and shrugging.

"How are we gonna run into either of those two, especially Jiren?"

* * *

You ever just walk through an area _feeling_ like something was amiss?

In Jiren's case, he found himself walking through the base like two days later, the seventh day of Amorous Week which means that there are two whole days left. He spent four days meditating on a remote planet outside of this galaxy, and was cruising along the universe… staring at random suns and stuff. It's one of the only calming activities that he could do at this time, and he needed to cleanse his eyes.

 _Now_ , the Grey got up from sitting alone in the living room, everything for the most part was quiet. He looked to the kitchen, neutrally walking through the entrance to look at the large premise before him.

This was where he felt the pang of something… off with the scenery. Everything was in place, nothing was untouched, nothing was broken or dirty or anything but he still _felt_ like there was something wrong in here. Jiren looked around, scanning the area for whatever was disarrayed before inhaling and deciding to brush it off since it shouldn't concern him. And he's right; it _shouldn't_ , but he heard a tiny and abnormal sound coming from the freezer, which was closed. The unfitting sound started to get annoying, so Jiren opened the freezer to see what was causing the noise…

…

It was Dyspo.

Dyspo… was in the freezer.

Now, Jiren knows his eyes never fail him, but was he seeing things incorrectly?

No, he _was_ seeing things correctly; Dyspo is indeed _in_ the freezer. Okay, _what_...

Jiren held the door with a slightly tilted head, and Dyspo opened his eyes to look at whoever opened the freezer door. Noticing it was Jiren, he seemed to exhale a cold breath of relief, which puzzled the Grey even further. Jiren released the freezer handle and crossed his arms, still slightly frowning. "I want to know the story behind this."

The hare looked at Jiren in a frantic bout, despite being balled up in the fucking _freezer_ he was able to move his head to look at the Grey. "Cocotte was trying to make out with me!"

Jiren blinked once, twice, and after a pause, he just inhaled and stepped back from the freezer to close it. "Never mind."

"W-wait Jiren!" Dyspo called out his name and Jiren stopped to hold the door open.

"What?"

"Can you uhh… can you help me?" Dyspo gave him a sheepish smile, and Jiren did that straight face blink he always does when one of these Troopers say or do something stupid. "I'm... kinda stuck."

Another urge to facepalm came about, but he pushed it aside. "You have gotten yourself in there." How ridiculous could this week _get?_ "You should know how to get out."

"Jiren, my _balls_ are freezing." Dyspo tried to shake his head, and he shifted to emphasize his discomfort. "Can you _pleaaase_ help me?"

A _long_ blink. "I did not need to know about the state of your genitals."

"Then can you help with the state of my _body position_?!"

Jiren lightly sighed and shook his head while closing his eyes. He held Dyspo's exposed wrist and started pulling, which made the other cry out.

Kunshi had slowed his walking pace since he just entered the living room, and picked up the sound of his best brodie and Jiren talking with one another in the kitchen. Due to him not having enough context, he accidentally assumed the worst.

"Be _gentle_! My back hurts!"

Jiren released his hand and was seriously debating on slamming the door closed again. "Do you want me to do this or not?"

"I do, I do!" Dyspo tried to tilt his head even further.

"Then stop complaining."

"I'm not!" Dyspo tried to crane his neck towards Jiren, who furrowed a brow at the stupid movement. "Just don't break me when you're doing so."

"If you keep moving your head like that, you're going to hurt yourself."

"Jiren, _hurry up_!" Dyspo was almost pleading right now. "But don't do it too fast."

 _That made no sense_. "You want me to hurry up, but you don't want me to fasten your position."

"I don't want you to break my back!"

"I won't break your back."

"Then don't go too fast!"

"Umm… Dyspo, what is going on in he-" Kunshi paused, because _fortunately_ his earlier hypothesis was not right, but...

The two of them paused to look back at Kunshi, who had _already seen_ enough bullshit in the past five days, but _this;_ walking into the kitchen to see _Jiren_ pulling _Dyspo_ out of a freezer just freaking tops it. He didn't know how to react, and the situation was so out of hand that he literally stood there and blinked for several second while pointing at the two.

Kunshi took a moment to close his eyes. "Dyspo..." He inhaled. " _Why the fuck, are you in the freezer?_ "

"Cocotte was chasing me." Dyspo said, trying to hide the low-key embarrassment in his face. "And I had nowhere else to hide."

That made _both_ Jiren and Kunshi slow turn to him, and they looked at _every other_ crevice in the room that one could hide in; the long cabinet, underneath the table (the legs are covered), behind the divider…

"Okay, _maybe_ I over thought my hiding space, but nobody checks in the freezer for a person!" That brought a _straighter_ face from the Grey, who seriously needed a facepalm moment. At least _one_...

"Umm, when they want to _eat_ something they would." Kunshi crossed his arms and shook his head. "Jiren, how did he even get in there?"

Jiren looked between both men, and answered as honestly as he could possibly muster.

"I don't know."

A blink. "No, you _do_ know." Dyspo furrowed a brow at him. "I already told you."

"I only know of your situation." Jiren looked down at him. "I don't know how you ended up getting stuck in a freezer."

Maybe it's the fact that Jiren's voice is so flat and void of any emotion that what he said sounded super fucking funny to Kunshi. He just started laughing, and Dyspo gave Kunshi a look. "Kunshi, you _evil_ ass, Jiren pull me out please!" Jiren gave Dyspo the most _I'm done with you_ look he's ever seen in his life. He dialed back his tone on behalf of that. "...sorry."

Jiren still pulled him out but that was all he was told to do, so when Dyspo was fully out of the freezer he didn't even help him up or nothing, he just let Dyspo drop to his knees. "Done."

Dyspo slowly looked up at the Grey while Kunshi was still cackling to himself. "Man shut _up_ Kunshi _._ I've been traumatized!"

"Just throw chocolate at her! You know what to do!" Kunshi said.

"I couldn't!" Dyspo said. "There's no chocolate in the base anymore!"

"What are you talking about?" Kunshi frowned at him. "We bought like ten bars yesterday."

"Bro," Dyspo stood up, "They're _gone_."

Kunshi looked shocked. "Who _ate_ them all in a matter of two days?"

Nobody did, but the reason for this was Cocotte; two days earlier, she had left Jiren's room in the middle of the night and went searching for wherever any thing of chocolate could _possibly_ be. She took whatever bars she found home to share it amongst her female friends, she did not want _anything_ thwarting her scheme.

"I dunno!" Dyspo shrugged, and then he turned to the Grey who was… pretty much looking between the two and probably questioning why they were so privy over meager chocolate bars. "Jiren, to get someone off the spell, you can feed them chocolate."

He blinked, and then looked elsewhere for a moment. "Okay."

He didn't give a shit outwardly, but now Jiren was on the verge of asking one of them for money so that he could buy a bunch of chocolate bars just to stuff them all down Toppo's mouth, _all at once_.

"Where is she?" Kunshi asked.

"She like… left or something after chasing after me."

"How do you know this if you were in the freezer?" Kunshi frowned.

He went to the obvious evidence that he could closely find. "Umm… uh, Jiren, have you seen Cocotte around here?"

Jiren shook his head before moving to exit this kitchen since this was none of his business. "I've been sitting there for a while, so I do not know of where she is." He left the two alone to talk about whatever the heck they were talking about while he went upstairs to his own room. He entered and took a moment to look around and really feel the premise with his mind _before_ turning his lights on (he doesn't want to see anyone naked in his room. Ever.) and went to his bed to sit. The man leaned back until his lower back was against his pillow he crossed his arms and closed his eyes only to open them when something peculiar caught his sights, seeing that there was a sheet of paper plastered right in front of where he was reclined.

Everything that was _just_ in his mind was suddenly wiped out as his eyes were completely overtaken by the image on the paper.

* * *

Her fingers could barely hold still with this toy in front of her, she was trying to get it to open and reveal the little light that would turn on inside but she couldn't get this completely right.

It was very late at night, and Cocotte was in the lobby room all alone with this meticulous little toy; she only came to grab something and leave but got too intrigued to leave, so here she was standing in front of the counter, eyes trained on the toy that would not open up despite her hands being as 'still' as possible. It would creak open only to close with every attempt, and she had spent much time trying to execute this correctly, the only thing barring her from doing so was her uncoordinated hands.

"You're doing that wrong."

She nearly jumped at the sound of Jiren's deep voice. Cocotte turned around and stared at Jiren, who adorned the very casual outfit Toppo bought him, and _damn_... It was serving his body _well_. His arms were crossed, gaze still on Cocotte. "Oh." She smiled and turned back to the little turning knickknack. "You think so?"

Cocotte didn't hear an immediate response, because she knew he was walking towards her. However, she didn't expect to feel his chest against her upper back, or to see his hands go where hers were, guiding her movements smoothly. His muscular arms were against hers as he did so, she can feel the warmth of his body on her back. _Ooooh shit..._

"Keep your hands steady." He said, and Cocotte felt heavy goosebumps run down her back from the proximity of his baritone voice, she can feel it against her ear and it felt good, _really good_. She watched as the little toy started to unravel beautifully due to her hands not putting so much unstable pressure against it. The inside of it had a light that went off after being completely unravelled, Jiren stopped aiding her hands once that happened. He started tracing his fingers against her forearms, only to slide them downwards right below her breast area and her waist, she can feel him pulling himself closer against her.

Her hands were still on the little knickknack, but she leaned back to rest her head against his toned shoulder, at this point his cheek and her temple were making contact. His arms now encircled her waist and Cocotte held them there with her hands.  
"You're really warm..." Cocotte smiled, the material of his clothing made her want to snuggle against him. He made a sound of acknowledgement at that, he wasn't much of a talker during intimate times. Cocotte closed her eyes, his voice sounds really nice, the kind of stern and deep voice she'd like.

Look, every girl has her hoe moments. Cocotte's having one right now.

She turned around in his embrace so his hands were now resting above her rear and looked up to see his face. He had this intense stare on her, and Cocotte had to blink because of its intensity. Can he burn her face by staring at her?

Cocotte realized his face was getting closer. "Ahhh, no no. No." She raised a finger to his lips. They weren't even puckered or anything and she can't really imagine that he could do that with how tiny his mouth is. Cocotte wasn't even upset, she was smiling. "Aren't you a patient man?"

He blinked, furrowed a brow and tilted his head. "Yes."

She tapped his nose with her finger. "Then be _patient_." She was literally going to drag this love induction thing on him because... Because he's cute and big and why the fuck not. As long as he doesn't kiss her, he'll stay being all soft towards her.  
Jiren had his gaze downcast for a moment before she popped another question. "Is your room empty?"

Before y'all get the wrong idea, sex wasn't on either one of their minds... Okay, maybe it was in Cocotte's but she wasn't _trying_ to fuck him, she just wanted to see how far this can possibly go _without_ any sex.

"Yes it is."

"You mind cuddling with me tonight?" Cocotte gave him her best smile, and instantly he took it. In fact, they didn't even walk up there; all Cocotte did was blink and she realized he had instantly teleported the both of them into his room. Damn... _He is not playing around_. If it does get to that point, then... That wouldn't be too bad.

Come to think of it though, he's powerful enough to fly through space and move indefinitely, so if they actually _do_ do it... Would she even _survive_? Would she even _perceive it_ happening? It would be so damn fast that she'd come undone on the floor in _nanoseconds_.

Cocotte skipped to his bed and plopped right on, beckoning him to follow suit and he did, while keeping his eyes on her. The second he was right next to her, he pulled right into an embrace, holding her securely in his arms.

"Is this comfortable?"

She looked up at him, he's so caring. That's cute. "More than comfortable." She wondered if he was going to advance anything, but he didn't surprisingly. Well, no that should have been expected, she wouldn't think Jiren would be into sex, even if he was this close to her. It was nighttime already, she could tell the moon was already high in its peak, and the two of them did just that; they cuddled and slept with one another throughout the night.

* * *

The morning came around, and Cocotte stirred in her sleep before opening her eyes, moving to feel a large cushioned body that she was right on top of. She craned her neck back to see Jiren's chest and looked up to see his face, the man was still fast asleep.

 _He looks so cute,_ since when did she find an aesthetic in big-eyed dudes? Geez.

He made tiny noise in feeling Cocotte shift to sit up on his waist, him being a light sleeper rendered him easily awoken by her movements. His black eyes opened to see the woman sitting on his lap with her hands propped against his upper abdomen.

Cocotte smiled at him. "Good morning." Jiren gave her that intense stare again, and she tilted her head with the smile still on her face.

Before she could even react, Cocotte felt her back hit the bed and her head suddenly against a pillow, their positions completely flipped so that Jiren was on top of her now. She blinked like four times before it finally dawned on her with his huge shadow over her body, _OH SHIT_.

"U-uhh, h-hey Jiren." She waved, both her hands were beside her head close to grabbing the pillow on her head. His hands went right to her hips, and without any hesitation he dipped his head down to the nape of her neck.

" _Good morning_." He didn't have a voluptuous tone to his voice, his normal voice against her ear like that _alone_ was enough to turn her legs into jelly. He didn't give her a chance to think, he started assaulting her neck with his lips.

Cocotte was about say something and once she felt him against her lips, she failed horribly to fight the urge to moan, _since when did Jiren have skills like this_? "Umm-he-Jiren-d- _mmm_ …" He grabbed both her legs and hooked them around his waist, and Cocotte… Cocotte literally laid there, she couldn't do anything to evade against this sudden shift of his persona, and _fuck_ he was being rough all of the sudden.

Cocotte is the type of person that likes a bit of rowdy and rough, but this is not the time for it. Not that she didn't like it at all, she was actually lowkey kinda _scared_ because of how fast and swift he was moving. Does… does this love spell remove rational thinki-

 _Obviously_ it does, Jiren would never even put Cocotte on his _lap_ for crying out loud.

He came back up, now there was no semblance of that shy and quiet Jiren anymore. Sure, he was quiet now, but he meant _business._ "How was your sleep?"

The woman beneath him was reduced to a stuttering mess. "I-I-uh-heh…" Cocotte nervously laughed, getting herself together at least. "I-It was great. A-And you?"

"It was fine." He used one hand to run a thumb down her cheek. "Why are you shaking?"

She was shaking? How frazzled was she? "Uh um… I dunno. I'm cold, maybe."

"You're cold?"

Not the _best_ excuse she could use. "Y-yes…"

Jiren nodded slowly, now he was running a big hand down her abdomen. _Holy fuck…_ "Allow me to warm you up." He said that in the most non-innuendo timbre ever, but descended and used his arm to bring her up, making her arch her back so that her neck would be exposed to him. He went back down on the other side of her neck that was untouched, and was a lot less rigorous with his kisses, they were soft and tender against her skin.

Cocotte rolled her eyes as he started grinding smoothly against her body, he was _really damned good_ at this. Her hands grasped the blanket below her and her face and body were probably a million degrees right now. "J-Jiren… please…" She needed to end this, _now_ , and the only way to do that at this point was to kiss him and how was she supposed to do that when he's-

"Jiren!" She snapped out of it before her temptations did, using her hands to push at his shoulders. "Look at me."

"What is it?" He stopped, big ass eyes on Cocotte now.

"Umm… can you let me sit up?" She asked, and he released her. At least he was lenient enough to do that, she almost thought he going to completely ravish her with no question. "Why don't you bring it over _here_?" She pointed to her lips, and Jiren looked down before looking back up at her.

He approached her again, holding her hips and pulling her closer to him. "Be patient."

"Ay, ay," Now she gather up the tiniest bit of courage to bring back her sassiness, "Don't use my words against me!" She froze in seeing the look he gave her, he wasn't angry but… it almost looked like he had been _waiting, yearning_ to do _things_ with her. A hand slid down her thigh and her eyes followed it, Jiren wasn't gonna do anything shady. It's just that his movements were so smooth and slick that she couldn't help but internally marvel at them. She grabbed his wrist and he looked up at her, Cocotte decided to use her own feminine prowess in this, so she grabbed the roundneck of his sweater...

And then shove her lips right onto his.

It was like one of the most intense kisses she's ever had in her life; he gripped her waist and pulled her into his lap and her nails grazed against the back of his sweater. She was thrown right back underneath him in the heat of the kiss, his lips moving expertly around her despite being so small and soft… And warm. She could feel the heat rising between them and in her, because despite how fucking good it felt, how well his hands were handling her at the moment, this was _Jiren_ she was kissing right now.

But she fell straight into it. She started pushing back and didn't realize that he was slowly retracting his hands, and that he stopped moving his lips to fit hers. Their lips pulled apart with a soft smack, and her eyes were closed, still locked in the intensity of their make out. She was panting, breathing heavily, her voice fluttered and her cheeks were pink, but Cocotte had simmered down quick enough to realize that the rest of the room was completely silent apart from her.

She slowly lifted her eyes open seeming like she was in daze, but the second she saw that serious, _very_ _irritated_ face right above her body, her breath was hitched in her throat.

Her cheeks were full-blown red now.

Jiren stared down at her, he looked _really_ pissed. Not only was she in his room without him consciously knowing, but this woman had placed her lips against his. And he was on top of her. _And_ her shirt was disheveled. He took a moment to calm himself down, his visible irritation slowly withered down to something close to unexpectation, and despite Cocotte now shaking out of slight fear that he might throw her out of a window, he inhaled deeply.

"Did you just kiss me?"

Cocotte blinked a few times, she seriously look like a deer caught in headlights. If Jiren was more susceptible to humor, he would be chuckling right now. Cocotte answered as honestly as she could. "I… I cured you. You had a spell on you and you started… kissing me."

Now his eyes went slightly wide, she was pretty sure _he_ couldn't imagine ever doing that to someone else without their consent. Not to mention Cocotte wasn't even his significant other or anything.

"I did?" He asked. Cocotte's face was still at tomato-tier hue but she nodded. Jiren blinked, and got off of her and sat up, trying to figure out how he was even _hit_ with this thing.

"I-it wasn't your fault, Jiren. You didn't know…" she said, somehow trying to consult him. "Umm, you didn't do anything s-silly other than kiss me, t-that's it."

She can't even voice that out without stuttering because of how intense it was. Jiren slowly turned back to her. "What do you mean by that?"

Again, he's a pure man, she low-key didn't even want to say anything more. "Umm… you didn't do the _thing_ with me."

"What thing-"

" _Sex!"_ She said and quickly looked away because she didn't want to see the look on his face. Jiren did give her a look, but he didn't say anything in regards to that since sex in her terms was irrelevant to him; his race didn't need genitals to procreate.

He also handled the idea better than she did, even if he was the one who was just grinding against her like two minutes ago, but he didn't need to know that. Jiren stood up and went to his window to stare out of it like a badass, while Cocotte was still sitting on his bed.

"Are you done?"

She blinked and looked up at him. Cocotte frowned. "Done with what?"

"Blushing."

That one word made her blush even more, and she sprung off of his soft bed. "Shush!" She then started walking towards the door, making sure to hit his back with her hair on the way there because she's petty. "It wasn't even all that, to be honest. Don't get too full of yourself."

Jiren literally slow turned and tilted his head at her. "I beg to differ."

Was he _always_ this savage? Cocotte harrumphed at him and turned around to leave brashly, but not before he himself looked over to the wall across his bed.

"Why is there a picture of you there?"

Cocotte whipped her head to the area, she _completely_ forgot about it! The picture showed her face with the most seductive smile that any man would fall over, her hair pooled down her shoulders over her silk robe romper.

Cocotte turned around and looked at Jiren. "I-I don't know."

Jiren _narrowed his eyes_. "Was that your doing?"

Sometimes she hated how smart he was. Can he dumb himself down so that he _wouldn't_ suspect things so quickly? "No! Why would I print out a picture of myself and paste it in your room? That's weird." She was about to start laughing, but Jiren gave her a hard look.

"You're lying." He was not taking no for an answer. She had no choice but to cut clean. "You pasted that there so that I would fall under that spell. What were you planning to do?"

Jiren did not mean that in a sexual manner, but Cocotte's brain assumed the worst. "N-nothing…" she shook her head and then looked at the picture. She strutted quickly to get it, snatching it from the wall and fast walking out of the room, leaving Jiren all by himself, and the Grey looked back out the window.

 _He stood corrected_.

* * *

Cocotte threw out the paper in the nearest garbage _disposal_ that she could find. She left the general _floor_ where Jiren was at by descending down the elevator, swearing that she'll spend at least several days away from this place.

Maybe that was a passive effect this spell had; the need to return to this damn base.

She was about to travel down to the lobby but caught someone out of the corner of her eye. She stopped her trail and peeped to look into the meeting room, catching the back of an unsuspecting hare. Her eyes narrowed like a predator that found its ewe.

All initiatives to leave this building went right out the window.

Dyspo was looking through stuff… That is literally the only description that fit this very moment. His hands glazed over the cleared desks and the desk lights themselves weren't even on. He neutrally sighed; so far, he and Tupper have made amends after Tupper literally _chugged_ a piece of chocolate down his throat, and the second he blinked out of it the hare was choking, so Tupper had to help him spit the thing out.

To be fair, to _him_ , that was the funniest thing that happened all week. To good for a time of absolute nonsense, and hopefully everybody has been cured of this sick induction before it's too late-

Dyspo didn't even perceive anyone entering the room, without warning he felt his back being pushed roughly before two hands grabbed him by his sides and turned him around, making his back hit the wall behind him. He came face to face with a smirking, heated Cocotte.

"It's been a long time since I seen you, baby."

" _N-no it hasn't_!" Dyspo did not pack a thing of chocolate with him, and the kitchen was two floors above them. Oh, _fuck_. "C-Cocotte, s-stop rubbing your knee on my dick!"

"Dyspooo," she cooed, "Why are you so tense, honey? _Relax,_ I'm not going to hurt you."

"Cocotte p-please," Dyspo was literally being harrassed right in this moment, and there was nobody in this base (besides Jiren, but he can't hear them from seven floors up… and he probably teleported to another planet) to help him. And he didn't want to hurt Cocotte, but it looks like now… _now_ he had to do some form or action before she would start doing something _on_ him.

He picked her up by the waist, and turned to the couches and straight up _threw her_ into them. Then, with an awkward gait because his dick wasn't soft anymore, he ran towards the exit. The second he came a few feet towards it, his body slammed into an unknown force, causing him to fall to the floor with a daze look on his face.

Cocotte had put up an illusion wall that look exactly like the door so that he wouldn't escape. _This is bad._

She pounced on him and started grinding against his piece again, groaning at the feeling beneath her. Dyspo yelped, pushing the woman off and scrambling to get back up but she grabbed him by the pants. His pants _tore_ from the speed at which he crawled and from the force of her pull, exposing his boxers. She grabbed him by his boxers now, and Dyspo slipped from the fabric's tear, and she ended up pulling him and throwing him against the wall. Cocotte pushed her chest against his, and he at this point _whimpered_ from her roughness.

"COCOTTE!" He grabbed her shoulders, and she stopped cupping him down _there_ for a moment.

"What?" She looked at him with a flushed face.

"L-Listen." Shit, it is really uncomfortable to talk to some hot chick when you're hard. Dyspo had to shift his stance every now and then, and he seriously had no choice but to do what they both swore never to do. "If you want me, Coco…Then bring it right here," He pointed to his lips, "And kiss me."

"No."

Okay hold the fucking phone, _wait_. " _W-what_?"

"I won't kiss you yet." She tapped his lips. "We should have some fun first, hun,"

 _Nope_ , she wasn't going to go out easy. "B-but why not?"

Cocotte shook her head. "I think you'll fair just fine with my lips against yours."

She wouldn't be wrong, he was hard right now but he _didn't_ want to do anything with Cocotte. She isn't even in the right mindset either. "Cocotte…"

"Nope." She started going for his chest now, running sweet hands over his lean muscles, and Dyspo couldn't take it anymore. He decided enough was enough; he looked straight into Cocotte eye's and brought his lips to hers before she could react.

It was a quick kiss, only lasting like two seconds, and they both pulled away very slowly. Dyspo had closed his eyes, hoping that this would work despite not having chocolate with him. Such a fact was verified true fortunately… by a slap to his face.

"What the fuck, Dyspo!" Cocotte looked at him, utterly pissed that he broke the bestie code.

"You were groping me just now, I had to fucking cure you!" Dyspo held his cheek. "Don't get all pissy at me over _that_!"

"I… I was?" She frowned and then back off of him. "I'm sorry, I-"

"You didn't know, I know that already." Dyspo said before sighing. "I thought you were staying home or something."

"Umm…" She decided to keep the incident she had with Jiren a secret. "I came to get something. That was it."

"Oh…"

"Dyspo…?" She accidentally looked elsewhere. "Did I… did I do that much to you?"

The hare looked down at his torn sweatpants. He pitching a damn _tent_. "...yeah…" This is awkward, for a guy-girl friendship, to find one of the other aroused in some form or another. It sucks because he's a guy, and that shit beyond noticeable. "I should leave and go home now."

"To fix that?"

" _No!_ " Dyspo answered way too quickly. "It'll… it'll fix itself."

Fellas, you know that's not possible.

"Uh huh, _okay_." Cocotte smirked at him. "You go and do that, pal. Quickly, too."

"What do you mean _quickly_?"

"I meant like… you know, go and hurry home- you get what I mean, you dimwit!" Cocotte bopped the back of his head and Dyspo chuckled a bit. There was a small duration of silence in the meeting room, nothing went on between the two until Dyspo spoke up.

"Cocotte?"

She looked at him. "What's up?"

There was a pause, because Dyspo had his gaze downcast like he was choosing his words carefully. Cocotte raised a brow and took a step to him while tilting her head. "What is it?"

"... You're kinda hot when you're rough and feisty like that."

That earned another hard slap to his face.

* * *

Oh, you guys thought that everybody was cured, huh?

Have you forgotten about the final two, about the two tallest _and_ most significant people of the Pride Troopers? Because their conflict hasn't been settled, and it is the last night of Amorous Week.

This is probably the second most extra thing Toppo has done regarding Jiren while he under this spell; his watch had a screenshot of Jiren's straight ass face and he just kept glancing over at it like it was some god under silk sheets, all the while manning the ship to the location that Jiren was at.

Said location was a remote planet (what is with this guy and remote, abandoned planets? Can't say they _don't_ have a lot in common), within the confines of a forest opening so that he could watch the stars and see the leaves of trees fall in the area he was in. Jiren was living the life right now; his eyes were closed and he had his hands resting behind his head while laying back and feeling the breeze against him and his Pride Trooper suit.

Outside of the vicinity, miles ahead of the forest stretch and on top of a cliff, Toppo landed. The ship had a telescope like device that could seek out things for many miles, and the second he saw Jiren he landed. Toppo held two fingers to his head due to the distance he'd have to clear, and disappeared away from the ship.

Jiren felt a very minute disturbance in the air and at first dismissed it for meager nature. But it wasn't until he _felt_ a shadow on him and he frowned. "Mm?"

Jiren opened his eyes, and he saw… you ever seen how round a planet was? All he saw was a giant planet friggin' stomach and a smaller head looking down at him.

"Good evening, sweetheart."

" _No, no, no, no_ -" Jiren quickly pushed himself back and sat up, but Toppo held his shoulders in place. _We are not doing this, not now!_

"Jiren, are you okay? You look scared."

"Toppo, get off of me!" He pushed the man off of him, and Toppo climbed right the hell back on. Jiren pushed Toppo's leg off balance with his foot, making him stumble a bit so that he can nudge Toppo's stomach off of his abdomen. Of course, Jiren was purposely keeping himself from hitting Toppo too hard despite him needing it, he didn't want to hurt Toppo that bad.

"Jiren, why do you keeping running away from me?" Toppo looked heartbroken, betrayed, by the fact that Jiren wouldn't share the same heart as he did. "Do you not love me?" Jiren took the deepest breath he could muster, before politely answering in his own way.

" _NO!_ "

The force of his voice made Toppo get blown back a few back, he stumbled and fell on his butt. Jiren didn't actually mean to do all of that, but he was irritated beyond belief, not enough to be angry though. Pray to whatever tree that's near you Jiren wouldn't get _angry_.

"J-Ji-"

" _Listen._ " The grey held a finger, pointing at Toppo, "Keep. Your hands. _Off_ of me, I do not care for whatever means of affection you have for me. Take whatever you came in and take yourself back home." His voice was dark, and scarily serious. If this was regular Toppo, he would have _un-admittedly_ piss himself just a _little_ bit.

But this is not regular Toppo. This is love-spell-on-crack Toppo, because he's been staring at Jiren's face for a prolonged period of time while traveling through space and hearing his voice like that didn't register like it should. It made the look on his face grow really intense, to the point where Jiren had to drop his finger for a moment.

Quicker than what the normal eye could catch, Toppo pounced onto Jiren again, holding him by his wrists, and giving Jiren _courting_ eyes. He was vigorous, adamant on proving Jiren oh so wrong, and Toppo inhaled and exhaled a deep breath at the proximity of both their faces.

" _Then I'll show you my love_." With that, Toppo _puckered his brown-orange lips,_ his beard did much to cover his lip but now there were literally in front of Jiren's face.

This is the part where Jiren's eyes go super wide and him getting a turtleneck because his head was cocked back and into the ground. This is the part where the author cackles over your facial expression.

Imagine seeing this bearded man closing in on you with his lips puckered up in front of your face. If you're laughing at this, you are _evil_ … I don't mind it.

Jiren shook his head and instinctively whipped his hand off of Toppo's grasp and smacked him upside the head. He smacked him so far that Toppo went flying in the direction of the slap, only to collide back first with a tree. Jiren shot up again to look at the leader, who groaned in the middle of picking himself back up.

"Wha… what just happened? Uu-" Toppo stopped his inquiries, wincing loudly at the pain in his head. He actually had double vision for several seconds, he couldn't get his thoughts right because his ears were ringing.

If you hadn't get the very tiny sliver of a drift, Jiren had slapped Toppo so hard, Toppo was _thrown_ out of the love spell.

Jiren blinked. You mean to tell him, that all he had to do was _slap_ this man in order to knock him out of the damn spell? And he was too lenient to think up this earlier? Finally, after nine days of utter stupidity, Jiren took this moment to zap a spot on the ground, and then stretch his hand, and facepalm loud enough to make a less disoriented Toppo jump. We've been _waiting_ for this, so has he.

Life has a shitty sense of humor when you're at the top of _every_ game.

"Jiren?"

Toppo finally gathered up the sense to acknowledge the other person sitting on the ground. Jiren was still holding his head in his palm. The leader showed a bit of confusion before he paused and reconciled all possibilities for why Jiren was facepalming. No, he didn't say something stupid… he was in a spell just now, and Jiren cured him from it.

Toppo's eyes went wide; aside from the pain in his back and head, did Jiren have to…? "JIREN!"

"Lower your voice."

"...Sorry." Toppo said. "Did… did you have to… kiss me?"

This is so bad on so many levels but Toppo had to ask. There was no chocolate around, that's for sure. "No." Jiren answered, and Toppo blinked. "I slapped you."

"And _that_ was enough to cure me?"

"Yes."

Toppo looked downwards in thought, before he frowned and looked back at him. "Why didn't you do this earlier?"

 _Well, would you look at that?_ Even _Toppo_ is asking the same question that Jiren could have asked if he _knew_ this fact like nine days ago, like the very second that Toppo turned on him. Jiren took the longest to answer him, because now he was pinching the bridge of his tiny nose. "I did not know that that would cure you."

Even the way he said that showed how absolutely _done_ Jiren was. Toppo felt bad.

"Oh." Toppo stood up and walked to Jiren, extending a hand to pull his friend up. All he got was one glare and that was enough for him to throw his hand right the heck down. "I did weird things, didn't I?"

Jiren stopped pinching his nose, his gaze was downcast. "Yes. Yes, you did."

Toppo knelt down and reconciled. "Again, I'm so sorry Jiren." Oh no, now Jiren would roll his eyes if he were younger over this; Toppo is a very nice person, but one of his passive habits is apologizing too damn much. "I didn't know what I was doing, and all this time I was not aware of my actions. I swear I apologize greatly for-"

"Toppo."

Toppo stopped, just like that. "Huh?"

"You could have _stopped_ at the first statement you've made." Jiren said. "I already knew about this spell beforehand."

"Oh." Toppo looked down at the ground. Jiren's night was fucking ruined now, all the peaceful, calming tranquil atmosphere can't be relished after he was just pounced on. The Grey did what he does best, being as proactive as he is; he stood up, and went towards the outside of the forest. He was about to leave, and Toppo watched as his friend just left him there.

The leader called out to his sworn friend. "Jiren."

"What?"

He didn't even turn around, but he still acknowledged Toppo. He stood there, waiting for whatever Toppo had to say and knowing him, he'll probably apologize in one form or another.

"...Forgive me."

Annnd he was right. Toppo didn't get a response for a short while, the wind blew softly making his beard ruffled in the soft breeze. Some of the leaves of the trees fell and fluttered between the both of them, once again returning the impartiality of nature. The silence along with the forest felt needed, and Toppo welcomed it until Jiren slightly turned his head to side-glance Toppo.

"I'll try to."

That was all he said before flying off to somewhere else. Toppo looked up, watching the Grey soar until he became a light in the sky, and for a moment the atmosphere around him left enough to calm him down before the weight of those three simple words dawned on him.

He realized that… That meant Jiren was going to spend _many, many weeks_ away from him, away from the Pride Troopers, more than likely meditating or fucking namek hoes. The second part is false.

And just to prove his point, Toppo heard the sound of a broken gadget beeping a wilted sound. He turned to his far left and saw the Troopers watch blown up. Jiren had blown up the watch sometime while Toppo was obsessed over him.

Toppo looked around the silent forest opening, before looking down at the ground and scratching his beard in guilt. " _Shit._ "

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **If this weren't some parody, the real question here would be how** **is** _ **anyone,**_ **gonna be friends after this? At least it's over… gee.**

 **What is Dia's power level here? (lol don't come for me)**

 **That concludes this long friggin chapter, these two together are like what…** _ **fifty six fucking pages**_ **in collateral. Kek, best idea for a special 10/10.**

 **As stated before, there won't be a chapter for many like idk, two weeks or something along that line since I'm gonna be on vacation. Surely this will provide you with enough of a read for that time, wouldn't it? :) Enjoy your Valentine's Day, and I'll see youse on the next one!**


	16. Topless

**I have returned.**

 **And someone wanted a chapter of Toppo's training. I hath delivered.**

 **Alright look… I've been** _ **thinking**_ **on behalf of making a Jiren backstory. It's been sitting in my residuals even before episode 127 came out, I had a whole thing about him and how he became the way he was.**

 **Luckily enough, what Super provided could be wrapped into that story too. In fact it** _ **adds**_ **to it in the least.**

 **But… it's** _ **too long**_ **and too thought-out to just be some fanfiction. I am conflicted. If I could still draw, I'd make a comic about that motherfucker. Anyways, on wit le story;**

 **This revolves around Toppo's day training for the role of a Hakaishin. This is his first time being able to actually conjure up Hakai energy, but uh...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Topless**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

"Focus."

Was all Belmod said, floating cross legged in front of Toppo. The Pride Trooper's eyes were closed, he himself was sitting cross legged on the grassy ground of Belmod's home planet, concentrating and conjuring up the very little bit of esoteric energy that he had developed over the course of years. Toppo hands shook slightly, a wavering of energy making the veins in his fingers pump a bit faster.

Belmod didn't need to incur another instruction to know that Toppo was doing what he had to do. The clown himself knew that hakai energy took _time_ to exact, he got up from his sitting position and started walking a bit farther from where Toppo was. He glanced all around the large and empty plains of this vicinity; the grass itself was a dirty shade of yellow, blades barely making it past Belmod's ankles. The clouds were white and sky was littered with funky colored diamonds, in the godly theme of a jester. His orange puffy hair rustled slightly in the breeze as he looked up at the sky with his fists against his hips.

"You've progressed quite far in the past years, Toppo." Belmod smiled to himself. "It won't take long until you will be able to truly use this divine energy as your own."

"Thank you, Lord Belmod." Toppo still held his fingers poised for the energy.

"How does it feel?"

"I can feel it all over me… it's like a liquid running through every part of my body." Toppo closed his eyes in exacting the sensation of this energy he was conjuring. Godly aura in itself is one that takes many years of physical, and mental training for one to get a whiff of and master it. Such energy could only go to those who have achieved a sense of objectivity in their thoughts and actions, no matter how fleeting the moment is. Some time ago, Toppo had managed to acquire this through the training he went through, and he would have to say that garnering such through his energy _did_ in fact change the way he was forever. The mortal-granted divine energy can only revel in the rightest of mindsets.

But despite the Gods not showing this kind of objective mindset, they still harbor this energy because of their stature and privileged label. They don't need to work as hard to maintain that energy pool.

"It should feel that way." Belmod closed his eyes. "Anyone handling such large sums of _hakai_ energy would feel heavily overwhelmed at the energy itself. I trust that you keep your head in the right place as you progress, Toppo."

"Yes, Lord Belmod." Toppo nodded. Truth be told, such mass of power can and _will_ change how a person acts and thinks. Some of them end up pushing away everything their persona was built on, some of them use their creed as fuel to their power, and some of them even lose themselves in the accumulation of strength. But Toppo knew what he was doing, standing here with his palms pulsing a faint purple aura, once foreign to the normal execution of red, corrupted God ki. He's never come _this_ close to manifesting actual hakai energy, and here it was, floating calmly in between the space of his palms.

And then it stopped.

No, like seriously, the energy just _vanished_ into thin air before Toppo's eyes. The large Pride trooper blinked like seven times, but didn't get a chance to voice his confusion because his hands were shaking again. No, the _energy_ in his hands was shaking, which is an ordeal that's much worse than it just being his hands. Since it's such a minute amount, it didn't alert Belmod enough to turn around and ask why Toppo looked like he was having an anxiety attack.

Who _wouldn't_?

"It won't be long until you take my place with how far you've been excelling." Belmod stood tall and proud, completely unaware of the budding energy that's coming from Toppo's shaky fingers. "Once you manifest it, I will show you how to throw hakai energy without it destroying everything in its path."

Welp. _Too late for that_.

Toppo accidentally shot the hakai energy in a curved trajectory, not keeping his hand stable to prevent loss of aim due to the very nature of such an energetic blast. It was heading _right beside_ Belmod's head, who was turning around just as the energy was being thrown. It passed him, the clown God only blinked as he turned back to the blast. It dissipated as it flew out, barely reaching a hundred feet above their ground before exploding, and dematerializing completely, leaving the entire premise in silence.

But that wasn't the reason behind the silence; the wind didn't cease until the airborne explosion was cleared out completely. Toppo had wide eyes looking at his mentor, and it seems that Belmod figured out what was very wrong with this situation before Toppo did. "Uhh…"

Belmod slowly turned back to Toppo. He didn't look upset, he looked _very_ confused. "...Toppo..."

The leader of the Pride Troopers blinked at the sight before him. He didn't say anything, he just slowly pointed and watched as Belmod slowly ran his hands against his head.

"...Where's my hair?"

Toppo's lousy hakai blast had whizzed past Belmod's head at a proximity so close, that it was turned into an excellent rotary razor, leaving no stubs of hair on the man's hair at all. Now stood Belmod, fully clad in his God of Destruction garb, with his makeup well on his pale face…

But he had no hair.

Belmod was _ass-tier, bare skin bald_ , his head was nothing _but_ shiny and clean of perpetual follicles, and it did not compliment well with his face. His eyes went _really_ wide at the feeling of his sides of his head being smooth, at actually feeling drifts of air against his sides, at the fact that Toppo threw hakai energy so _inaccurately,_ that he ended up shaving _all_ of Belmod's head as the God of Destruction was turning _around_.

Looks like you fellas are gonna have to upgrade your barbers now after seeing this… unprecedented _finesse_. Belmod no longer looked like a jester...

Now he just looked like Jiren's _way-too-long-lost_ uncle, like the one the Greys wouldn't invite to their reunions because he keeps talking about anal probing.

"Uhh…" Toppo's voice trailed off. He blinked again, the sight of Belmod without any hair looked _so fucking weird_ to him. They both stayed in silence, even Belmod couldn't vocally react to this predicament as fast as he normally would because… this is his hair were talking about. Never in Belmod long ass life did he shave himself bald, leave that to Toppo or Kunshi, or Zoiray, or Kettol, or Vuon, or Jiren…

I just realized that about 60% of the Pride Trooper roster is _bald_. Well, shit.

Behind the two, the door of Belmod's palace opened. It was about several meters from the opening they were in, and out came a purple faced, slicked back white haired, more-than-proud Kaioshin with his hands behind his back. His composure was like how it normally was: cool, neutral, and calm, even as he exited the palace with closed eyes.

"Lord Belmod, there is something that I h-" Khai went down the steps with his proposition. The _second_ this Kaioshin opened his eyes, he completely paused in everything that he was doing. Everything he was about to say went right out the window, and there was silence for a few seconds.

Then, like the _kind asshole_ he is, the Kaioshin snorted loudly into a fit of laughter.

"SHUT UP, KHAI!" Belmod hollered at him. "THIS IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER!"

Khai cackled even harder, getting himself a together bit before he would laugh even harder at the face Belmod made. He looked at Toppo, trying to catch his breath. "Di… did you do this?"

Toppo reluctantly nodded, he fidgeted with his fingers. "It… it was an accident."

"A perfect accident, in fact!" Khai let out a loud 'KEH' sound while he laughed, snickering as he approached Toppo. "I commend you."

"Are you _still_ upset about that ordeal?!" Belmod now stomped towards the two. Just seeing some angry bald pale guy in clown makeup was enough to make Toppo pop a bit of a smirk. "That is no reason to be laughing at me!"

Here's what happened between the two recently; Belmod decided that it was a good idea to put something special in Khai's tea. Yes, Khai enjoys tea as much as any old and fashionable Kaioshin would, his favorite tea (surprisingly) is chamomile. So on this one day, as he went to get another source of writing from his large library's index, Belmod 'slipped in' a vial of chocolate extract in Khai's elegant teacup. He poured it into Khai's tea, and then left without a trace. The only thing you would hear in Khai's library was the sound of him spit-taking, and then coughing out the tainted flavor of his _favorite tea_ , because he _absolutely hates_ chocolate, and the sound of Belmod chuckling to himself quietly over poor Khai's misery.

Listen, you don't just _mess_ with someone's tea and not expect them to wish the worst on you. And this is _Khai_ were talking about.

"I was peacefully enjoying my cup of tea before you came in and _ruined_ it!"

"It was only a _dash_ of chocolate!" Belmod reasoned.

"A _dash_ of _unsavory_ flavoring that I didn't ask for!" Khai crossed his arms. "Beside, this only makes things fair. You get to laugh at me getting my tongue rotted." Khai gestured to Belmod's wax-on-wax-off shiny head. "And I get to laugh at the cereal bowl on your head."

Now that made Toppo accidentally crack up. Belmod shot a look at him, and Toppo quickly zipped his mouth shut.

"Why you little-" Belmod was so angry that he couldn't even roast him back properly. "Go back into your little reading cave, you _twit_."

"What twit drinks tea as elegantly as _I_ do?" With that, Khai conjured up a fresh hot cup of tea. "Only twits would sneak into someone's library, and pour chocolate into their tea, _Belmod_. Comeuppance is _beared_ in the most… _Unexpected_ ways." Khai had the _nerve_ to take a nice, sweet sip out of his cup _right_ after he said that too.

Belmod caught the pun quickly, bear and bare both rhyme. What an ass. "Screw your comeuppance! Just leave us be, dammit!"

"But I came to tell you something."

Belmod took the _biggest_ inhale he could muster, because Khai was looking directly at him as if he was about to laugh again. " _What?"_

Khai opened his mouth, and then it started mouthing in a weird way because he was stifling his laughter again. But he broke, he straight up raspberried before falling into loud, contagious laughter, enough to make the quiet Toppo quietly giggle to himself too. "Nevermind, I forgot! I better… I need to leave before I..." Khai turned around, still laughing at the face of the angry bald clown who was now fuming over the ridicule. The door closed with the sound of Khai's loud ass laughter even from the inside of the building, fading away and leaving the two alone once more.

"...I'm sorry."  
Belmod turned to Toppo, who looked like he had been quiet the whole time but Khai's laugh made him fail midway. Belmod was too pissed to catch that, but the God of Destruction simmered down at bit because of his better judgement. He wouldn't get mad at innocent Toppo for _buzzcutting_ his entire head, because he didn't know what he was doing.

"It's…" He took another breath. "It's fine. Just… I think that's about enough for today."

It better be, before he gets his makeup erased too.

Toppo looked down at the ground. Again, due to how _cinnamon-bunned_ this man is, he felt the need to also apologize for making Belmod end their session early. But he fought against it, it's a really bad habit of his. "Okay…"

Belmod sat down against the grass and avoided resting his palm against the side of his head because it felt weird. "Don't be sullen, Toppo. It's just hair, it'll grow back." Of course, this was _after_ he had just gotten really upset at Khai for laughing, but that's because of Khai. Truthfully, his hair will be back to where it should be. The only thing he dreaded was that _awkward_ stage; at that point he'd look like Carlton if his hair was on its sides instead of the top of his head.

Toppo left the Destroyer's planet, and phased back into his own home. He looked around his spacey bedroom; the walls were red and white adjacent to one another, his bed was perfectly made (yes, Toppo makes his bed before starting his day) with new vibrant white pillows and a soft red blanket. The memory foam of the bed was covered by the ivory white bed sheet that matched the color of the footrest cushion.

His bed looked _really nice_ to lay down on right now.

He took a nice quick shower and got into a snazzy dark red onesie and plopped onto his bed while vocally sighing. He felt tired after the craziness, and of course training isn't something light to take but he had _just_ handled _hakai energy_ for the first time; however fleeting it was, the energy was taxing to his body regardless.

Toppo lazily turned around in his bed, his eyes now lidded and he was really close to falling asleep now. His Trooper watch started beeping and he looked down to see that it was good ol' Kahseral. "Good evening, Toppo!"

It was in the morning when Toppo had left for his training. "Hi uhh, Kahseral."

"You okay over there? You sound exhausted."

He _was_. "I was about to fall asleep just now."

"Ohhh, okay okay, I see." Kahseral nodded on the other end. "I see your session today was tiring, but other than that, how was it?"

"Uhh… it was great." That was all he could say about the session. Then he yawned, luckily enough his exhaustion would serve as a cop out from this conversation. There was no need to go into detail, _really_. "I'll talk to you later or something, I'm beyond exhausted right now."

Kahseral frowned, because Toppo sounded really unsure on his response, but he elft it as that since the man was tired. "Go and get your sleep, my friend. Goodnight." The Commander hung up, leaving sleepy Toppo alone and by himself to finally sleep away the image of bald and angry Belmod stomping towards him and Khai.

He started laughing in the middle of falling asleep.

This would explain why none of the Pride Troopers heard from Belmod for several months, and why Toppo had been sort of tight lipped on why Belmod only called him in. And also… why whenever someone asks such a thing to Khai, he just busts out laughing while conjuring up a cup of tea, and walking right out of the room.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **The most important aspect to a clown is his hair...**

 **Khai has no chill lmao. The man's a shady divo, I lowkey love how he's usually a kind guy, but is also cutthroat with the quickness. He might be one of my favorite Kai's.**

 **This might not be that different from episode 127… or 126, I forgot which one lol, but both Toppo's lost control of their God energy. How** _ **sweet**_ **.**


	17. Archnid Strikes Back

**This goes out to every person that's afraid of spiders.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Archnid Strikes Back**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

Earlier this week:...

" _ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Zoiray flung himself up, standing all poised as he held a concentrated glare in front of him. "Two more hits, and he would've been dead!"_

 _He crouched slightly while dealing a barrage of bullet attacks to the boss, his fingers going apeshit on the controller he was holding. He finally did get kill the boss after a few minutes of enthusiastic hopping, vein-popping concentration, ability spamming and health-gait raging, and sat back down on his gamer chair; when the boss in a raid is killed, the player gets a mod for a random gun that either is godly, or utter rubbish. For the past two raids he's done over the course of an hour and a half, he has acquired two mods for a primary weapon called the Harpak._

 _...And the Harpak sucks, so the mods he got were beyond horrible._

 _And Zoiray crossed everything he could possibly cross while looking at his screen, hopefully the fruits of his labor this time won't come back to bite him in the horns._

" _You, have got to be…" Zoiray held his arms out, articulating the utter fuckery in front of him. "Fucking… shitting me." He shot up and calmly place his controller down on the table in controlled anger (because he didn't wanna break it, that thing costs money). He got another mod for the Harpak once again, and this one reduces damage output for the sake of fire damage. Zoiray shook his head, What kind of backwards arse crap is this?_

 _Just when he thought this entire ordeal couldn't get any worse, he felt something fall down his face from the ceiling. At first he closed his eyes, shaking his head as a reflexive reaction. But then he felt something moving against his lap, so he looked down…_

 _There was a fucking green archnid just sitting on his pajama pant, right in front of him. Its eighteen eyes looked up at Zoiray as it moved on of its legs towards him._

 _The short Pride Trooper yelped so loud that his voice cracked, and jumped so high and violently that he bumped his head against the damn ceiling from the amount of airtime he had, there was even a large crack from the impact, and his horns were stuck in the ceiling's foundation. But the archnid…_

 _The archnid was still on his body after that whole mess, so Zoiray, while stuck on the ceiling by his horns, was thrashing and frantically rubbing every part of his body to get it off his person. The whole time, he was squealing and shrieking with that 'deep manly voice' of his, and he shook around so hard that his pajama pants almost fell off, but when he was certain that the archnid was off of him, he looked back down at the ground to see it just there, staring,_ _ **taunting**_ _him to come right down and face death in the eye._

 _If he goes down there, he'll die, but if he doesn't go down there the archnid will go somewhere to hide, and then he won't find it until he falls asleep, and wakes up with the archnid's claws through his eyes. So… should he choose immediate death, or eventual death?_

 _Either way, he might end up dying in his own room._

 _Zoiray was brave. Zoiray was smart, he placed both his hands on the ceiling and started pushing himself off of the ceiling so that his horns could go free. He finally dropped down, but jumped to the table and stood on it with the game package in his hand as if that would actually do anything. The archnid moved from being behind him, to being on the carpet portion of his room, and that was like ten feet away. How the hell could it have moved that damn fast…?_

 _Zoiray took a deep breath, he was shaking, that archnid was as big as a small truck just glaring at him, but he couldn't waste any more time trembling over the little thing. With a loud warcry, Zoiray hopped right off his couch and pounced down onto the ground, slamming the package right on the spot of where the archnid and sure enough, he didn't miss._

 _Thank the_ _ **Gods**_ _._

 _Zoiray kept smashing the heck out of the archnid, still doing that manly warcry of his and despite the little being having rendered into a mush at this point, Zoiray still kept slamming the package down. Once he had stopped he stood back up, breathing heavily, before he started to laugh victoriously._

" _HA HA!" Zoiray placed his hands on his hips. "You thought you could just pop into my house, and try to kill_ _ **me**_ _?! You're short outta luck, Hmmph!" Zoiray now was victory roasting this dead archnid on the ground until he decided to pick the carcass up with a napkin while victory dancing, and going to the trash bin. He pranced and raised his hand like a vending machine claw over the trash bin, and looked at the napkin._

" _Here you go:_ _ **Right where you belong.**_ _" He dropped the little napkin and shut the trash bin closed, then turned around and walked right back to his rightful seat on the couch. Zoiray turned around and blew a raspberry at the trash bin before going back to his game, continuing his little gaming adventures..._

* * *

 _Now back to the present day..._

"Yo." Dyspo threw up a 'peace' sign. "Kettol."

"What are you doing?" Kettol went over to sit on one of the chairs.

"I'm just laying here, kinda… cooling." Dyspo let out a breath. The Sonic Warrior was way too chill to look over at Kettol, his eyes were still closed and his head was facing the ceiling. But he did open them anyway and looked at Kettol; his mood didn't change until he noticed what Kettol was wearing.

Dyspo made a face of disgust. "Eww, is that a GreenArk shirt?"

"Yeah." Kettol looked down and back at Dyspo. "Why?"

" _Peasant_." Dyspo scoffed. "Only complete idiots would wear that damn brand."

"What makes you say that?" Kettol frowned at him, offended.

Dyspo threw shade right the heck back at him. "I _know_ that."

At that moment, the door to the room they were in opened to reveal Jiren who was actually wearing something other than his Pride Trooper suit. The Grey was just aimlessly walking around the base since he was made to be here _again_ , he took the past few minutes or whatever amount of time that had passed to walk around.

You ever just mindfully wander about with no exact directive or objective to fulfill? Well that's what Jiren was doing right now, and the man walked into this particular room thinking that he would be left alone… _buuuut_ there were people in here.

Both of the latter Pride Troopers had widened eyes; this was a once in a green moon occurrence, for someone like Jiren, to catch him in something else other than his Pride Trooper suit in _public_. And speaking of green…

"Jiren," Kettol pointed at Jiren's torso, adorning a roundneck sweater that fit his sculpted muscles very well being cuffed at the ends of his sleeves, and a pair of black pants, "Where did you get that GreenArk sweater?"

"Toppo bought it for me recently." Jiren looked down and back up. "He figured it would suit me well."

Kettol turned his smug face back to Dyspo, who was silent through the whole exchange. "Heyyyy Dyspo, didn't you just say something about those wearing anything from GreenArk being idiots?"

Dyspo blinked at Jiren, looked at Kettol, and then elsewhere. "I never said that."

"Don't diss a brand by its name." Kettol wagged a finger in front of Dyspo, as if scolding him.

"I'll diss a brand if I want to." The bunny tossed his hand away with a palm.

Like the social person he is, Jiren did that thing where he looked between the two conversing and backed his way _out_ of the room just to avoid getting into some mindless drabble.

About two floors below the three men were the other five Pride Troopers, exempting Kahseral and Tupper, in the lobby room, sitting on a crescent-shaped table with wheeled chairs. The atmosphere was quite cool, they were chatting about random things, the window of the room remaining open for convenience sake, and for the most part, there was nothing they had been alarmed about, in regards to their job, on this day.

"Okay so," Vuon propped his elbows against the table and gestured as if he was about to make and amazing bargain, "You're telling me that a cucumber is in it's own kinda family of vegetables?"

Told you they were talking about random things.

Zoiray shrugged in her response. "Well yeah I mean, a pickle is a pickle and a cucumber is a cucumber… Right?"

"But doesn't a pickle become a cucumber?" Toppo raised a brow. "I thought pickles turn into cucumbers."

"I coulda _sworn_ I learned that years ago as well." Kunshi said. "That pickles turn into cucumbers."

"And how do they do that?" Cocotte asked.

"Well, don't they… Transform or something?" Kunshi raised a palm in inquiry. "Maybe they go through stages."

"Stages?" Vuon raised a brow.

"Well yeah like," Kunshi was in 'bargainer mode' now, "The pickle is grown, and then it hits puberty."

"And then?"

"And then it… matures and... becomes a cucumber?" Kunshi didn't even sound too sure when he said. Kunshi shrugged. "I dunno, just... it does _something."_

"I guess we'll never know." Zoiray shrugged in concluding the important debate itself, and the lobby settled into silence for a few seconds before a bit of drift came around the room, and conversations.

"I'm pretty sure there's an answer somewhere, the Web is quite b-woah, what the _fu-"_ Vuon literally jumped out of his seat, looking at the seat to his very right. Everyone else also yelped, even Toppo nearly toppled backwards because that seat was literally empty.

 _ **Was.**_ _Literally. Empty._ As in, just before their eyes, there sat a GreenArk sweater-clad Grey with his arms crossed looking down at the table, like _right now_.

"J-Jiren!" Toppo exclaimed. This particular seat was to his left, and Vuon had recuperated to sit back down while everyone else was already flinging questions Jiren's way.

"Whoa, man!"

"How do you even _do_ that?"

" _Why_?"

"You scared me, man!"

"Why couldn't you just use the doors?!" Toppo gestured to the sliding doors that would've been a viable entrance for anyone, even someone who can just _appear_ right behind you as you're walking up to him. Try to make sense of _that_.

"This was faster."

One would find dry humor in the way Jiren responds to his own power compass, which is pretty vast and incomprehensible to anyone else below his level. He simply _blooped_ himself into the room on some paranormal, _Control+C+Control+V_ type deal because walking through automatic sliding doors would be too slow for him.

"Ummm… okay." Toppo chuckled lightly, scratching his head a little. Jiren still had his gaze on the table, the others had simmered down from the act and the place was silent once again.

"Sooo… I had a dream last night." Cocotte took the initiative of starting up a topic to keep everyone from staring at the quiet Grey. "I was falling from a building holding a plate."

"Wait what?" Vuon gave her a look.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Well _my bad_ ," Vuon held his hands out, "But why?"

"I dunno! And then I was in a bakery or something, I barely remember it but it was weird."

"Maybe you're freefalling into a bakery because you wanted pie or something." Zoiray snorted. "Like actual pie, and not one that's covered an entire kitchen."

Kunshi snickered quietly and Cocotte giggled too, leaving both Toppo and Vuon confused as to what this inside joke could mean. "Umm… is there lore behind this?"

"Don't worry about it, Vuon." Kunshi waved his hand at the dinosaur.

"Why not tell him?" Zoiray said. "It's best if more people know about it."

"Only to what, open more possibilities to spoiling Dyspo's mood?" Kunshi narrowed his eyes at the shady blue Trooper.

"Kunshi, why would I _ever_ want Dyspo to be soured by the fact that he can't- you know what, alright; Vuon this is what happened…" Zoiray stood on the table and Kunshi shook his head and laughed to himself. Zoiray gave Vuon more than enough details about that one time Dyspo failed horribly at making a cherrywood pie, and Toppo couldn't help but shake his head at the foolery of the hare. Sometimes… _often times_ Dyspo could make very peculiar mistakes, it's become part of his personality at this point.

Sometime during the exchange between the two and the additional chatter of the Troopers, Jiren had turned around to stare at the ceiling, arms still crossed against his chest. Not only that, but someone was approaching the lobby room, and the doors opened to reveal the same hare that they _totally_ were not telling a story about just now.

Dyspo sauntered into the room, and when he saw his brodie sitting in a lounge chair, he started snapping his fingers to their makeshift greeting in a rhythmic way. He also was saying his name on beat. "Kunshiii…"

Kunshi started snapping his fingers simultaneously, and he slowly rose from his seat to groove towards his other brodie. "Dyspoooo…"

"Kunshiii…"

"Dyspoooo…"

The two did this stroll dance as they went towards each other while clapping on beat. Dyspo started hopping while he walked. "Kunshiiii…"

Kunshi was shuffling. "Dyspooo…"

" _Kunshiii…"_

" _Dyspoooo…"_ The two were up front to each other, and they did a handshake that involved a dap, two palm taps, and a final grip of each other's fists before going into a bro hug giving one another a pat on the back.

"Wow," Toppo chuckled, "You two are creative. I ought to do something like that." The leader turned to the nearest, _quietest_ person who was to his left as an attempt to get engagement from him. " _Jireeeeen…_ Jiren?"

The Grey had his hands folded on his lap with his signature Jiren FaceTM while looking up at the ceiling. He turned his head to Toppo. "What?"

Jiren's voice was barely audible. "You saw what Dyspo and Kunshi just did, why don't we come up with our own remix?" Toppo smiled at the Grey while snapping his fingers. Jiren just blinked. "Come on, say it with me; _Jireeen…_ "

"Nuh-uh." Jiren shook his head and looked back at the ceiling, even though he did say that _sort of_ on beat but with the flattest fucking voice ever. You know, like his usual tone. Cocotte cracked a giggle along with everyone else, and Vuon shook his head.

"Toppo, Jiren isn't about any of that stuff."

"He _suuuuuure_ isn't." Zoiray was standing for quite a while and took a good look at the bald Grey that wasn't facing anyone. He didn't reply to anyone at all, and Zoiray placed his hands on his own hips. "Isn't that right, Jiren?"

Jiren didn't say anything, he continued gazing at the ceiling as if Zoiray didn't just call him out on his solitary behavior. Quite funnily enough, it wasn't only just because of the fact that he just doesn't answer questions that are obvious, which is the deal with the majority of Pride Troopers at times, but this wasn't one hundred percent the case with Zoiray. It's because he didn't want to say anything _to_ Zoiray...

Because Zoiray's voice annoys him.

Zoiray walked around the table and looked up to him, jumped back onto the table, and leaned forward swinging his head in the direction Jiren was looking at, because he's extra. "...What are you looking at?"

Jiren didn't answer, he just kept staring up at the dang ceiling.

Zoiray narrowed his eyes. "Dude, I'm seriously trying to figure out why you're looking up at the ceiling for. Are you seeing ghosts or somethin'?"

Silence.

" _Hello?"_ Zoiray starting waving his hand in front of Jiren's face. "Anyone in there?"

"There's an archnid on your calf."

Jiren didn't flicker an eye towards him, and Zoiray made a sound of confusion. He frowned, and looked down at his lower leg to s-

"BY _FUCK_ , HOW IN'TH HELL DID-?!" He couldn't even speak proper sentences because he was deathly afraid of archnids.

What is it with random things and _people_ popping up out of nowhere today?

At this point, he was hopping on one leg while wiggling his other leg, frantically yelping at the size of the damn thing. "GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OOOFF!" Zoiray shrieked because the archnid wasn't even budging from his wiggling, the Pride Trooper went into a whirlwind right in the middle of the room making most of the papers, napkins, and empty coasters near him fly around.

Kettol literally just walked through the sliding doors to see a bunch of papers and light objects flying, and the hilariously panicked and pissed off looks on everyone else's face.

The same archnid that was on Zoiray's leg flung off of him and hit Kettol right in the face.

"The he-UCK!" Kettol started slapping and wiping the archnid off his face but it already was off by the time he did so, so he ended up slapping himself. "ACK- oh, for fucks sake…"

Zoiray stopped spinning and sighed with his eyes closed. The man only got one breath of relief before Kettol and Kunshi voiced their annoyance.

"Zoiray!" Kunshi stood up, and Kettol stepped forward to join him.

"Look at all the mess you just caused, dammit!" Kettol placed his hands on his hips.

"Uhh…" Dyspo had a careful eye on Kettol's position, and it seemed like Zoiray caught it as well.

Zoiray held a shaky hand up. "K-Kettol…"

"What?" The Pride Trooper in question turned to where they were pointing at, just to see that the archnid was sitting quietly on his shoulder like he paid rent. The second it spread its wings, Kettol violently dusted it off his shoulder with a manly shriek.

Just a bit of Universe 11 Living Environment for you; an archnid is similar to our universe's spider, and Universe 11 is so fucked to the point where the _minimum_ size of an archnid is _3 inches_. And every single one of them have _wings_. And every single one of them are nowhere near _not_ harmless.

Imagine that; an eighteen-eyed three-inch more-than-likely poisonous black eyed winged spider on your leg or your shoulder. I'm pretty sure you had a mini panic attack just reading that.

Now it was floating in front of Kettle before it started flying around the room. Oh, and also these things also fly really fast, just when you thought things couldn't get any worse.

"Kill it! Kill it!" Kettol grabbed the nearest thing to him, which was an empty folder, and started chasing the archnid while Dyspo and Cocotte went to get swatters from one of the kitchen drawers. Kunshi was already waving a pillow in the air to whoosh it away, and Toppo was fast-walking to it, trying to trap it with two books against his giant hands. Zoiray, like the brave Whirlwind Pride Trooper he was, ran his ass to the kitchen to take _offensive cover_ from the flying archnid.

Jiren didn't move out of his seat. He was still looking up at the ceiling with a calm and empty mind, the void of nothing resounded peace within the Grey. He lowered his arms so that his hands were loosely folded on his lap and took a deep, relaxed breath while a pillow went flying several inches right above his head.

"Damn it!" Cocotte actually tried to throw a pillow at the archnid across the room. Her aim was quite spot on, but the archnid wasn't raised to get hit by a cushioned headrest, so it dodged the pillow as it came hurling at it.

Kettol ran towards the flying archnid holding the folder like some tribal huntsman with locked eyes on a deer. "I got it! Toppo, watch out!"

"Huh?" Toppo's head was lowered, but he raised it up at the call of his name. He didn't even get to turn around before feeling someone hit his head with a folder, and it didn't particularly hurt but... "Kettol, what the hell?"

"I was trying to hit i- _OOOOH_!" The archnid flew really close to his face and Kettol leaned back so far that he nearly fell backwards, and then Kunshi was coming back in lieu of the action. Kettol ended up getting in Kunshi's way, and Kunshi accidentally hit him in the chest with his pillow which made him fall to the floor.

"I GOT IT!" Dyspo rushed forward with a swatter in hand, as the archnid wasn't where Kunshi and Kettol were. He swatted once swearing that he had made contact with the pesky flying insect, but realized it was an empty swing. Now he was running after the archnid while trying to swat it. "GET BACK HERE YOU-"

"DYSPO, WAIT!" Kunshi looked at his friend.

"The heck you mean 'wait'?" Dyspo gave his brodie a straight face. "If we don't kill that thing, it's gonna kill all of us!"

Well, almost all of them.

"Look, man!" Kunshi pointed past Dyspo, and the bunny heard a nearly inaudible low pitched sound. He turned around to see that there was an archnid just chilling right on the new potted plant he bought earlier. This one was dark green and was _six_ inches in length, and was one of those noisy archnids.

Oh, and the green archnids have these large sharp prongs that stick out all menacing-like when they feel threatened in conjunction with that low pitched buzzlike growl. Just thought you'd _like_ to know.

Dyspo's mouth widened in that comical shocked face that he adorns. "THERE'S TWO OF THEM?!"

"WHAT!" Toppo whipped around to see and hear the loud buzzing of the archnid that was now flying towards Dyspo. This particular species, along with being ungodly huge, was just as ungodly aggressive. The bunny tried to swat but the archnid was getting so dangerously close to his face that he had to take a step back and run. "Oh no- Dyspo, don't come here!"

Dyspo was still running in Toppo's direction. "Toppo, just catch it!"

"I don't want to get poisoned! Who's going to take over the leadership of the Pride Troopers if that happens?"

"Okay- you know what…" Kettol raised both hands before going on the offensive against the larger archnid, taking and opening the folder in his hand was watching as it flew towards him. He waited for the right moment to strike, just when it was at arm's reach, and he slammed the folder closed with the green archnid in it. He then let out a relaxed sigh. "Okay… it's dead…"

 _Just_ below his hands, Kettol raised his brows as he, and the others, saw two pronged claws from the green spider pierce through the sides of the folder out of nowhere. Kettol dropped the folder and fast walked the fuck away from that situation. "Nope, nope, nope, nope, _hell_ no."

Kunshi looked between the two before exacting the brave courage to grasp two pillows and try to trap the smaller archnid within it. He then went to open the window with his foot (he just pushed it open, it wasn't sealed), and released the hold of the archnid in between the pillows. The archnid only faltered slightly fluttering down from the floor they were at, while the low pitched buzzing of the other green archnid got louder.

Kunshi felt something both hairy and prickly repeatedly touch his ear. "SHI-" He dipped away from the window and ran to the kitchen right when Zoiray was about to exit.

"Is it dea-WHAT THE-" All Zoiray saw was Kunshi frantically jumping above him and landing on his chest in the kitchen floor, with the green archnid dodging everyone else's attack to zoom at Zoiray's direction. He wasn't having it, Zoiray screamed and went back into whirlwind mode and the archnid was thrown in the other direction at a break wing speed.

Jiren leaned back, and the archnid flew past his face and hit the other wall, creating a small dent because of the force of it hitting the wall.

"...I think… I think it's dead…" Dyspo took a deep breath.

"I hope." Toppo leaned forward while walking towards the spot on the wall where the archnid was, and the rest of the Pride Troopers followed suit. A dark green leg popped out, and the archnid was squirming out of the damn crater.

Cocotte just about gave up. "What will it take to kill this damn thing?!"

Dyspo shook his head. "We're all dead. That thing looks furious."

"I'm out." Zoiray turned around to go back into the kitchen like a strategic government warlord. The rest of the Pride Troopers backed away as the buzzing got so aggressively loud, all but one of them.

Jiren _casually_ walked up to the crater, held the archnid inside of a container that he apparently got up and got from the kitchen while everyone ran amok, sliding the folder Kettol was running around with to trap the archnid completely, teleported to the window, and let it loose while closing the window with his other hand.

Everybody just blinked at him, not really processing how incredibly fast Jiren just fixed the problem. He turned around to see all of their slow faces, and just shrugged.

Kunshi straight faced. "You gotta be fucking kidding me."

"You know Jiren." Toppo stepped forward, placing his hands on his hips in front of his friend. "You could have at least _helped_ , you know."

Jiren blinked. "I did." He looked out the window for a moment. "There was no need for you all to react the way you did."

"But like… you could've… I mean, why'd it take so long for you to just do that?!" Dyspo gestured to the closed window behind Jiren.

"It took all of you too long to do that, so I did it."

Logic at this moment, considering how rushed everybody felt trying to kill that giant thing, was not working properly. What Jiren said sounded like a mindfuck if they didn't think about the statement twice.

"... Is it gone?" Zoiray peeked his head out of kitchen.

"Yup. Jiren trapped it and just... took it out." Toppo looked down and around the lounge room before charging up a verbal attack at Zoiray's scaredy ass. "Look at all this mess you've created! You have to clean all this!"

Kunshi stepped up, more than upset of the mess as well. "Yeah, _Zoiray!"_

And then Zoiray decided to throw a smartass reply back to the both of them. "Umm, you all were running around trying to get the stupid insect so I'm not the only one who caused all this."

Vuon almost rolled his eyes, and Kettol raised a hand. "To be fair, none of us actually can create turbulence within a room to knock all the papers and stuff all over the place so…" And technically, nobody else misplaced anything in the room (Kunshi has the pillow in hand), so all the items on the floor were Zoiray's fault.

"You know what, fine. I'll clean everything then. _Hmmph_." Zoiray sassily stomped around, picking up the papers and random paraphernalia from the ground while Toppo watched on like an annoyed parent.

The leader shook his head and closed his eyes. "All of this nonsense, over an _archnid_." At that moment, Toppo opened his eyes and saw _everybody_ , _including_ Jiren, giving him the most accusative looks he's ever seen. "Okay, maybe I _was_ a little frightened but I wasn't running aro-"

At that note in particular, Jiren's glare was so strong and so ' _bitch no the fuck you did not_ ', that Toppo backed off and went silent from saving himself face.

"You all have to account for the mess created in this room." The others were not expecting Jiren to speak up, but he did. And what he said made the most sense to be fair.

" _Jiren,_ " Zoiray stopped in the middle of placing the coasters on the table, "All you did was watch us as we had to run through hell and back to catch that archnid."

He wanted to cover his ears; Zoiray's voice tenses his ears. "I wasn't watching."

He did his coaster duty while talking to Jiren. "Okay well, _acting at the wrong time_."

"There was no wrong time to act." Jiren blinked. "You all had the opportunity to trap and set the archnid away, but you all didn't take it." He felt like he was repeating himself. "So I did so."

"But _you_ were involved as well!" Zoiray pointed a finger at him, and Jiren casted a dark glare at the small Pride Trooper. The little finger faltered, and he stopped trying to coerce Jiren into taking part of the blame, and silently went to cleaning the mess by himself.

Kettol looked at the dent in the wall. "Soooo which maintenance team is going to hammer us for _that_ one?" That made everyone else in the room chuckle.

"I'll call them later and tell them that uhhh… someone feels and bumped their head and that happened." Vuon said.

"That story is so bullshit." Kunshi snorted. "Who has the power to bump their head that hard onto the wall?"

"I'll just say that Jiren tripped and bumped his head on the wall," Vuon covered his impending laughter with a shaky smirk, "and it caused the wall to crack."

That earned a few laughs from the Troopers, but Jiren in particular straight faced.

"Okay okay, I _know_ you can't trip and fall on something but sometimes 'accidents' can happen, y'know?" Vuon reasoned with Jiren.

"They are going to ask what caused me to fall."

...Jiren was right, they _are_ going to ask how the fuck Jiren even _stumbled_ , because it was well known to all of the maintenance team and pretty much the majority of the Universe that Jiren was _hecking_ strong, and his reflexes were so impeccable it was borderline _stupid_.

Vuon slowly dropped his arms. "...True."

"What keeps you from telling the truth?"

"Because it sounds stupid." Cocotte looked at the Grey. "Imagine how laughable it would be to hear that we damaged a wall because of a small, scary, _dangerous_ insect."

Jiren raised a brow. "That isn't drastic. It's not as bad as destroying an entire room over food."

No, that wasn't shade; Jiren seriously didn't have any motive behind what he said. He was simply comparing two situations apart from one another, but Dyspo over thought otherwise. "WHO TOLD YOU THAT?"

The Grey blinked; he didn't even think about it himself, mainly because he wasn't listening when Zoiray told the story.

"Zoiray." Vuon answered for Jiren.

"HOW DOES _HE_ KNOW ABOUT IT?!" Dyspo was pointing at Zoiray this time, before turning to his Brodie and Cocotte. "Did you guys _seriousl_ y tell him?"

Kunshi and Cocotte looked at each other, the both of them blinking at their obvious _non-suspiciousness_ before Kunshi spoke for the both of them. "I don't recall…"

Vuon snorted loudly, and Kunshi shot him a look, a brewing smirk on his face.

"Ohhh you _dicks_." Dyspo shook his head. "It was a _one time_ experience!"

Zoiray came up from behind Dyspo, already having put everything neatly away. That didn't necessarily mean he had put everything _back_ where they belonged. "Next time, actually read the ingredients instead of going straight in to snacking like a little _fatass._ "

Dyspo shot a look at him. "Next time, actually take care of a little bug before screaming and running away like a little _wuss._ "

"But _you_ were running too!"

" _Umm,_ I was trying to take care of the damn archnid. You just dipped on all of us."

"I _helped!"_

" _When?!_ "

Zoiray sassily placed his hands on his hips. "When it was flying, I was the one who threw it across the room."

Dyspo narrowed his eyes and craned his head forward. "You did that because you were scared!"

"I was _not_!"

"You two," Toppo had his fingers against his temple, "Are _both_ put on duty for cleaning this place up."

Zoiray looked at the leader. "But-"

"Toppo…" Dyspo gave Toppo a pleading look, and Toppo raised his hands at the hare.

"No _buts_!" He started getting paternal again. "If you two are going to argue, then you two are going to account for this."

The two men gave up, they both collectively sighed before giving one another a glare. Zoiray went for the pillows, and Dyspo went for the papers, and the two were cut off from their arguing fit. Vuon, Cocotte, Kunshi and Kettol looked between each other, the entire atmosphere settled down low enough for Kettol to notice something particularly odd about the lobby.

"Where did Jiren go?"

They looked all around the living room, to find out that… they couldn't find Jiren at _all_. The Grey must have _logged himself out_ of the room on some paranormal shit again, though they couldn't tell _when_ he did so. Kunshi frowned. "Why did he even leave?"

"He's told me once that Zoiray's voice bothers him." Toppo stated. "I would imagine that was the reason why he… exited the room."

Dyspo snickered loud enough for the smaller, sulking Trooper to snap up at him. Zoiray threw a finger at Dyspo. "Don't you _laugh_ , you-"

" _Zoiray!"_ Toppo shot a look, warning Zoiray to shush before shit gets bad for him. The smaller Pride Trooper abided, and Vuon shook his head.

Kettol looked between everyone else. "That ends this whole fit, doesn't it?"

"Yup." Cocotte nodded. "It's all over now."

 **۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷**

 **When you realize Jiren is so set on his 'no killing' morale that he doesn't even kill archnids. What a** _ **sweetheart**_ **.**

 **If you guys are wondering what the blue heck a Harpak is, it's from Warframe…And I hate that gun lol.**

 **The next, and last, episode will be airing in like three hours from where I'm at. I think I'd want to do a seperate one chapter thing of Belmod coming to learn about Jiren's past, face-to-face with the silent Grey. It's gonna be hella angsty lol, I'll see to it.**

 **Anyways, hope y'alls enjoyed this one! :]**


	18. Turning An Old Leaf

**It feels like a** _ **really**_ **long time since I uploaded for some reason, even though it's only been two weeks. I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time I'll go on hiatuses like that because guess whaaaat…**

 **Finals.**

 **Yup, only need one word to summarize the perpetual annoyance I'll be feeling in the next** _ **two**_ **months. The next chapter will be up two weeks from now or on my birthday, 4/20, because why not. No, there's no weed involved in the next one I promise that. But anyways...**

 **I'm well aware of Jiren potentially turning an old leaf again after his fight with Goku. The last scene with Toppo and he was absolutely bro-mancingly beautiful.**

 **But who's to say that such changes will happen in one night? For Toppo, he figured it would take the subtlest of hints to really see how Jiren's mind really is.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Turning An Old Leaf**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

There was a change in his demeanor after the tournament. After Universe 11 was restored, after his fight with Goku and what it revealed of the Grey that Toppo had already surmised.

There was a noticeable change in both of them. In how Toppo watched his friend's actions, and in Jiren's actions themselves. It was weird, to an outsider seeing through the looking glass, but to Toppo, it was the start of something new… or rather something suppressed.

Something that was budding once again after being locked away for many years.

He noticed it when he was sitting and talking with Kahseral, how Jiren casually strolled into the room like he normally does, and just sat on one the chairs at the table the leader and Commander were currently in. And then, he turned away with cross arms, but not in a spiteful way, while Toppo and Kahseral continued to speak with one another. When the men started getting into colloquial conversations, their lighthearted voices filled the room, and their laughter bounced around the walls. At first, Toppo thought Jiren was just sitting there and ignoring them, but there were moments, little _specs_ of instances, where them laughing would cause Jiren to look back at the two.

He noticed it when he and the rest of the Pride Troopers were sitting in the lobby together talking about the happenings of their day. On that account, Vuon _always_ had some of the craziest stories to share, because he and his cousins were idiots, and it would be enough to make the others laugh out loud sometimes. Jiren was there; he didn't laugh, he didn't smile, but he was watching everyone else smile and laugh, and Toppo peeped him as he was observing.

Even now, after he and other eight Troopers aside from Jiren have returned from a hangout that they planned a day in advance. It was basically a day out; they then went off to an indoor roller skate station, then they went to this one buffet and spent at least two hours eating and chatting before respectively bidding farewell to another (it took them like thirty minutes to say _Goodbye_ ) and going back to their own houses. Toppo decided to head to Netfiss' base, looking around the empty interior of the lobby room before heading up to the lounge room.

And there he was. There Jiren was, sitting cross legged on the sofa but looking down at the ground as if in thought. Toppo smiled a bit, he kind of… wanted to see Jiren's face at least.

"Good evening, Jiren." Toppo took a few steps forward, and as expected, Jiren acknowledged his greeting. The leader went by the shelves to put some papers back into their meta-portfolios. There was silence in the room for quite a while.

"How was it?"

That was the first thing Jiren said to him this entire day, because yesterday Toppo asked him if he wanted to join to which Jiren declined as usual. But he never asks how a hangout was, _never._

"It was fun." Toppo didn't mind giving him a bit of detail on his whole day. "We went to a buffet and we ate a lot after roller skating…" He started to revel in the events of the past seven hours. He went on about how Zoiray's feet looked so clunky in the normal sizes, and Dyspo's big mouth ass asked the skating receptionist if there were _infant sized_ skates available. He talked about how Cocotte was doing so well before she'd abruptly slip and fall, and how Kettol would always roll on the floor laughing his butt off from watching her weird falling positions. He told Jiren about Kahseral's _fifteen minute_ argument with his wife over a meal he made her while she was gone (this man can't cook, give him a break), and Tupper challenging two of the bartenders at the buffet to an arm wrestle.

Don't worry, he didn't smash the dude hand into a sliver of crepe cakes.

The leader laughed as he went to sit at the couch adjacent from Jiren, talking about the how many plates Vuon had eaten at the buffett. The man had _eight_ plates in his arsenal and these weren't gourmet serving sizes, they were _filled_ with bountiful variants of food.

"... Vuon nearly fell asleep as we walked to our cars from all the food he ate." Toppo smiled and shook his head. "That man can't handle too much food in his system. Heh..." He looked back at Jiren with kind eyes, and sheepishly smiled under his beard. "I rambled quite a lot didn't I? I couldn't help it, today was… it was an interesting day."

It was expected of Jiren to just tune him out as he was speaking, but… Jiren was listening to his whole story, with a blank face of course. A bland look was still on his face, but it didn't show any form uninterest.

"Is this what you all did for eight and a half hours?"

Toppo raised an eyebrow. He really thought it was only _seven_ too, but now that he looked at the digital clock on the wall it _was_ a little over eight and a half hours. Time really flies by pretty fast, even in Netfiss which has 36 hours in _one day_. "Yes."

Jiren nodded minutely. "Aren't you tired?"

"Tired?"

"Yes." Jiren said. "From doing all of that with the others."

"Well, my body is quite exhausted, _yes._ " Toppo said, and that wasn't wrong, it was partially due to the fact that he ate a bit too much as well. "But it was a great way to spend time with them since… they were all pretty much free today. We all wanted to do this."

 _Such weird questions_ , Toppo thought. He didn't see anything change in that gray face. In fact, for the most part, Jiren was actually _unreadable_ right now. Usually, Toppo would see that _done_ expression, but Jiren wasn't done; he can't tell what would come next from his sworn friend. But after a long moment of looking at him, Jiren consigned from his gaze and continued looking down at the ground.

 _Now_ Toppo could see what Jiren was trying to get at. But he had to tread slowly, maybe Jiren himself doesn't realize he's being this open.

"What made you so curious today?" Toppo gave out a friendly smile to Jiren. That made Jiren frown. "Normally, you don't ask about how my day is, or what the rest of us did."

Jiren's eyes only turned to him, or rather his general direction, but they were downcast. "I just wanted to."

Toppo felt like that sentence was incomplete, there was something else Jiren wanted to add but he couldn't find the word to do so. The leader had decided to pick it up before the subject would lay forgotten. "You did say 'no' when Kahseral asked you yesterday."

Jiren shrugged, that uncanny reaction contrasted with how he's been through this whole exchange. That was him probably trying to cover up what he was conveying, out of… timidness? Shame? Futility?

"I did."

Toppo furrowed his brows, that statement also sounded incomplete. There was _more_ this man wanted to say. "Did you want to come?"

"I did not."

That was a lie.

Ever since the afternoon, till the evening of this very day, Jiren was sitting in the Netfiss base all alone, walking through every room to run the thoughts out of his brain. They didn't start then, they started _the split second_ he coldly denied Kahseral's request yesterday, and he spent all yesterday morning fighting with himself about it. He hates fights.

No, not those fist-to-fists, sweaty grime-dirt combat fights. Those fights where… where there _is_ no victor, where both parties end up not winning and not losing and in this case, _both_ of those parties were his mind.

He left this one abandoned planet lingering on the thought, he left the galaxy that Netfiss was in and went to an empty, barren cold and vacant rogue planet on the outskirts of the quadrant with the thought sitting his head. He landed, he sat, and he stared blankly at the sun while his mind held multiple testimonies as to why he should've said the _opposite_ of what he said to that request. The blank look on his face started painting its own colors, starting mixing the hues of both judgements together before it became too much, before it started to whittle on his outer persona and then he finally plopped… not sit, _plopped_ onto the ground, closing his eyes and letting the fight go by reaching and extending his displeased, desperate hand out to his clandestine savior.

The Void.

The empty, the nothing, the _nowhere_. That's where he can be at peace, where he doesn't feel like he needs to exist in physical, metaphysical, or _emotional_ aspects. He did that all evening and night yesterday, and it bled to today morning. And then he stopped.

He stopped intuitively, because his intuition _told_ him that he couldn't do it anymore.

He found himself wandering more until he _somehow_ ended up in Netfiss, and _somehow_ planted his feet against the main lobby's tiled floors. _Somehow_ he stayed, and _somehow_ he went around the place before sitting down in this room, and gazing at the digital clock for no particular reason at all.

 _Somehow_. He didn't know how…

He did know how, but he didn't _want_ to know how. He didn't want to think, that he actually want to… _deny_ …

"Jiren…"

Toppo was now standing next to him with a look of concern on his face. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

Jiren blinked like five times. "Yes. Why?"

"I was talking to you just now." Toppo lowered until he was on one knee. "You just spaced out and started looking at the ceiling."

"Don't I always look at the ceiling?" Jiren said.

"But you looked confused."

"I wasn't confused." To clarify, Jiren didn't look like _what is Calculus AB_ confused. He looked like he genuinely did not know where he stood in life, and the perplexed _blank_ look on his face was really a show of existential confusion more than anything else.

"Okay, okay, I just… wanted to know if you were okay." Toppo leaned forward, propping and elbow on his raised knee. There was a pause.

"Why?"

Toppo blinked. "Because… I was concerned, Jiren." He frowned, tilting his side to his right. Why did he even need to ask that? "You usually don't space out in the middle of a conversation."

He's right. Jiren is very attentive when his mind is at _peace,_ not in _pieces_.

"You wanted to go, didn't you?"

Silence. There was silence on Jiren's end. "..."

"It's okay, I'm not upset at you for declining. In fact, I think I could come up with something the two of us can do tomorrow." Toppo sat next to Jiren. "Have you ever taken a walk through Vedru Park?"

Jiren shook his head.

"I could take you there, you can walk through the natural landscapes with me." Toppo's eyes were light and kind. Jiren's eyes went to the ground again.

"But you're tired."

The excuse went right over Toppo's head. "I can sleep, and wake up energized enough to go out with you." Toppo patted Jiren's shoulder. "It wouldn't hurt to say yes, Jiren." Another bit of silence, and Jiren looked back with him. Those large, spacious black eyes were empty, but their emptiness told a long story that Toppo could easily see if he were to look closer. There was a bit of stubbornness, something that one could easily see on Jiren, but Toppo could see something shy away in Jiren's expression, or lack thereof.

"Fine."

Was Jiren's simple reply. Toppo smiled and nodded. "Good. I will contact and call you so that I could meet up with you, alright?"

Jiren nodded silently.

"Alright, Jiren." Toppo stood up, and regarded him kindly. "Goodnight."

He had _known_ the park was a great place for his introverted friend. The next day, he contacted Jiren. He told him he was ready, and set out with a spaceship from one of the bases to the planet Jiren was in. He could've gotten out to get Jiren, but the Grey held a hand up, signalling Toppo to just open the ship's door to let him in. He was confused at first, but the second he opened the door and felt a wisp of the _negative by the hundreds_ windchill, he understood why.

So the ride to Cardia was mostly silent, with Toppo asking casual questions like how Jiren's day was going, and how he was feeling overall. The Grey could only give him one word replies.

Cardia's Verdu Park was, in our estimates, about 987,000 square miles in size. There were ranges both below sea level, and dozens of thousands of feet in the air, the park itself was home to a large, wide variety of climate, mammals and animals, landscapes, and terrains. Toppo had to take a guest car, with Jiren sitting in the front passenger seat staring out the window. Luckily Jiren didn't pull out any of his abilities to appear in one place and then another in an instant. Toppo would glance over to him every now and then, he'd catch Jiren's gaze move from the sky back down to the ground. His arms were crossed as usual, but at least he was preoccupied with the sights outside of this car.

Toppo smiled.

They exited the car when they entered a parking dock within the actual park. The place came with disposable map trackers so that they wouldn't get lost in this large bound area, but Jiren and Toppo didn't need them. Toppo closed his car door after Jiren did. "We're here."

Jiren, in particular, was looking up at the sky, and across the dock where the actual nature was. He moved away from Toppo's car and started walking to exit the dock, with Toppo following shortly behind him.

Jiren was also dressed casually for the occasion, Toppo brought him a comfortable pair of pastel grey joggers with light sneakers and a nice, white V-neck shirt. He was to change in one of the other rooms within the ship while Toppo manned the ship to Cardia, and Jiren finished changing in several seconds. Toppo could say that he felt comfortable in something other than his Trooper gear. The leader enjoyed the fact that at least, Jiren was doing something other than meditating and dissociating from the others, and here in this large premise Toppo knew Jiren would feel comfortable, since people don't crowd big parks like _this_ at all.

Toppo blinked only to see that Jiren wasn't near him anymore. He frowned, and looked all over the place thinking that Jiren must have disappeared in the middle of him thinking, but he found out that Jiren was _already_ a hundred or so feet ahead of him in the long pathway. "Jiren, wait up!"...

For the most part, Jiren was moving much faster than he was. It wasn't out of uninterest, but rather Jiren's eyes were on _everything_ and _every_ little animal that passes by, there wasn't much room for conversations in the beginning, but Toppo found no need to converse with Jiren in order to have a good time because he found all of that through just _watching_ him. He found endearment in seeing the way Jiren found curiosity in everything, it was like watching a quiet child run through a toy store.

There was this one particular moment where, perhaps Jiren had completely forgotten that Toppo was even there, he walked up to one branch that housed a tiny fluffy critter that resembled a squirrel. It's giant, navy blue eyes looked at Jiren as it at first backed away, but drew closer to the calm Grey. Jiren slowly raised a finger and watched as the mammal took its first step onto it, it went down until it was situated on his entire hand and Jiren scratched its outer ear with his other finger. Toppo didn't say anything, he just watch the interaction between him and the mammal.

Jiren blinked a few times as the squirrel-esque mammal retreated back into the tree, looking down at his hand before letting fall to his side. He then looked around, but blinked when he saw Toppo just standing there. "Why haven't you walked around?"

"I was watching you." Toppo had his hands on his hips. "I can see you enjoy being here."

Jiren blinked again, and he looked back down at the grass reverting back to being asocial. The squirrel creature had descended from its place on the branch and was now on the ground.

"Come with me, Jiren. There is a particular area I think you'd love."

It took them a quick two minute flight, before Toppo told him to land before the opening of a cave, which was on an elevated part of the Park. Behind them, one could get a beautiful view of the nearby streets that surrounded this _small_ portion of Verdu Park. Another forty minute walk into and up this cave led the two to an opening, a beautiful cliff that casted the orange rays of the sunset in a beautiful, radiant glow. "This… is the tallest cliff of Verdu Park, Jiren."

Beneath this cliff, hundreds of feet below their feet, were forests, plains, plateaus, all sorts of greenery that covered the ground. There were blue and white birds that flew nearby, making beautiful and pliant chirping noises, and the breeze was cooler than at ground level. Unlike the latter, Toppo had seen this beautiful view many times, but Jiren was getting the biggest hit of _deja vu_ he's ever had in a long time. It hit him in a place that he could have sworn was cold and impenetrable; watching the birds fly at the same altitude of the two, and looking down at the mostly green landscapes before this rocky cliff…

If he could turn around, he would see the outskirts of his primitive village, a faint and blurry memory that was blotched by the inks of time. If he looked down, he could see the large, unforgettable stretch of forest trees, where he and his… his longtime friends would sit and stare out in the distance with one another, almost always bringing up some stupid, laughable topic with their witty sense of humor, filling the premise with nothing but laughs and jokes galore.

He could almost… feel the fabric of his old gi, a pseudo sensation brought back by the mere reminiscence of his ancient family, the ones who he grew up with, the ones who he got stronger with…

The ones that lost while he won.

"Doesn't it look beautiful?"

Unbeknownst to Toppo, Jiren was being thrown back into memories that would be heartwarming to someone else, not him. Not him anymore, at least. "It does."

"What does it remind you of?" Toppo sat down on the edge next to Jiren, who was swatting… unintentionally resembling the sitting position he always did at that one cliff a long time ago. "You always loved meditating on cliff sides. Does this remind you of that?"

Jiren's eyes were shied away from Toppo, the leader was about to lean forward to see where Jiren was looking before the Grey spoke. "It does." He said again, and then he closed his mouth. And then it opened again after a pause. "It looks familiar."

"Familiar?" Toppo raised a brow. "Have you been here before?"

"Not here." Jiren moved to actually sit, his legs now hanging off the cliff edge. "Where I once lived, as a child… there was a place that resembled this cliff."

"Really?" Toppo sifted a little, suddening interested because he didn't actually know about this. "Tell me more about it."

Jiren looked at him with a frown for some unknown reason, as if saying _why would you want me to_? There was no importance Jiren could place in his past anymore, he reckoned it was stupid to even think about. But somehow it was still there; the memories, the places, the experiences, but not the people or the places themselves. They've been long gone.

 _Erased_.

"I used to walk up a mountain that led to a cliff." Jiren looked down. "The cliff was steep, anything within the forest end would find much difficulty getting over it, which fortified my village well. Me and other... childhood friends, would sit on that cliff." His voice trailed off at the end as his eyes moved around the view before them.

"And you all would spend your time there?"

Jiren slowly nodded. "When we were not training, yes." His feet started swaying. "Sometimes we'd stay for hours on end."

"With nothing but one another's company." Toppo said, and Jiren nodded. The leader looked over the way Jiren was sitting; his hands were folded on his lap and his feet were swinging off the cliff, like a child. It was endearing. "Jiren, what is stopping you from doing the same with us?"

The Grey slowly turned to Toppo, who was moving closer so that he could pat Jiren's shoulder. Jiren averted his gaze for a moment, and closed his eyes. There was a slight shake in his head, and Toppo outstretched his arm to wrap it over Jiren's shoulder with a slight squeeze on his bicep. "Are you afraid of doing so?"

That was a _portion_ of the reason why. When regarding his ancient family, that is a definite _yes_ , but when regarding everything else that happened afterwards, there unearthed another reason as to why he didn't reciprocate anymore. "It doesn't feel…" Jiren did not think that merely _speaking_ would make him have to inhale so deeply. There was weight in his words. "It would feel unfitting."

"Unfitting? Because we aren't those people?"

Jiren nodded.

That _could have_ been taken in the highest offense by his sworn friend, but Toppo already knew this was a first for Jiren. He knew the words that came of his mouth might be rugged at best. "Though we are different individuals, that doesn't cast away our sentience. The Pride Troopers may not hold the same personalities as your childhood friends, but we more than welcome you to be a part of us every once in a while." And then something else dawned on Toppo, something he didn't think about all this time. "Do _you_ feel unfitting?"

He was surprised to see Jiren nod after a long pause.

"Why?"

Jiren shied away again. This was a topic that he cracked open, but didn't want to completely disclose. "It's been a long time."

That was all he _ought_ to say, because he found that there was so much running through his brain, and he had stop himself from potentially rambling. Toppo was cracking the wall. "But it takes time to build something, Jiren." He reassured. "Give yourself time, not everything happens in an instant. The most beautiful things take the longest to bloom."

He was right, and this particular subject was something other fighting. A long time ago, Jiren had more than enough to live more _other_ than fighting. He gathered that, he lost that, and he gathered it again, to lose it again. And then a long time came around, and that was when he found humility in traversing the worlds on two feet, and then, things built up again. Once again, they came down, not crashing or tumbling, but they simply _ceased_. And he was at the apex of his game.

Well, he still is, generally. But now it was different; the apex was _all_ that he was. His master had told him as a child to find grace and beauty in the world around him, and not only the wielding power of who he faces. Unfortunately, under everything he lived through… he failed to hold true to that message. But he got what he wanted: he will always be the strongest, he will always be the winner.

The winner who loses all.

"Toppo…" Jiren had to wonder. "Why waste your time trying to associate with me?"

Toppo looked down at those big, black eyes. "Waste my time?"

Jiren cascaded his gaze back to the greenery. "I have nothing to offer."

Toppo gave Jiren a long look, the other wasn't looking at him though. "Yes you do." Jiren glanced back at Toppo, the leader continued. "You may not know it, but I can see you have something in there that's been lying dormant for too long. No amount of fighting or strength could bring out that part of you."

"But I fought Son Goku." Jiren said. "He… he and his universe have shown great power through their collective selflessness."

"But it took their actions of camaraderie to unearth that part of you." Toppo smiled. "You do not see it, but I know there is a bright, pure heart hiding within that chest of yours. And it's shy; you're shy."

At that, Jiren sat up straight because what Toppo was saying sounded… heavy and weighted. It was actually stirring something in him, but his overgrown coping mechanism won't allow that to be shown so easily. So he denied the easiest claim Toppo just made. "I'm not shy."

Yellow eyes narrowed playfully. "Yes you are."

"What makes you think that?"

"Look at me." Toppo noticed that even though Jiren was denying timidity, the Grey wasn't maintaining eye contact with the leader.

So when he did, Toppo said, "You don't see much in yourself, but I see a lot in you. We all do, and I want you to realize that you are much more than your strength. I know you try your hardest to suppress your feelings in order to keep yourself from feeling weak again, but you are a person; there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that, there is nothing wrong with _you_."

How the _hell_ did Toppo nail this on a wall so quickly, and _thoroughly_? It was like he read through Jiren's mostly unreadable quiet facial expressions and _knew_ the deepest root to his problems. Part of this was because he did sort of entrust Toppo with information on himself, so maybe Toppo had ruminated on behalf of his past, trying to tie the ends of the past and the present together. That showed thought, that showed care in the vacant Grey before him, and Jiren realized that Toppo invested more into him than he could think possible.

He didn't think he'd… be anything other than a helping hand on behalf of saving the world. He didn't think somebody else would see him other than a strong man, because that's all he can present outwardly. Everything else that made up who he was has withered and died along with its experiences. He's lived many lives and hasn't died once, but now he was just a shell. What could Toppo see in a _shell_ of a person?

"Believe me."

That brought Jiren back into reality, the Grey looked back at Toppo and then looked away, suddenly unable to take the sincerity from his own friend. It didn't make… viable sense to him for Toppo to just be so… good. He still didn't say anything, he felt the breeze against his grey skin and watched the breeze blow Toppo's beard slightly. After a long moment of nature feeding the atmosphere for the both of them, Jiren finally spoke up, albeit _very_ quietly. "...I'll try…"

Toppo smiled. "Again, give yourself time." And then his tone took on a more playful mise. "I can wait."

The Grey gave him a straight look, but it faltered with him shaking his head and looking away as Toppo did that stupid chuckle thing he does when he tells Jiren a really bad pun. It made him crack the _tiniest_ bit of a smile before he unconsciously pursed his lips.  
"What was _that_ just now?"

"What was what?" Jiren gave him a side-eye.  
"Was that a _smile_ I saw?" Toppo leaned towards him with narrowed eyes and Jiren leaned away, all annoyed and shit.

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was."

"I wasn't smiling."

"Then what are you doing right now?"

There was a _ghost_ of a smirk on Jiren's face right now for some stupid reason, and he shook his head before reverting back to being straight face. "That was nothing."

"I'm sure that was _something_." Toppo nudged Jiren's arm playfully, and the Grey pursed his lip again, but was doing a sort of sidepout with narrowed eyes at Toppo.

"Silence."

And then Jiren went back to looking out at te beautiful view. He didn't say that with the same serious, annoyed undertone he has 99 percent of the time. He just wanted Toppo to stop noticing him smile already, and the way he evaded from that was endearing. Now he just sat next to Toppo with his arms stubbornly crossed looking away from the leader. Toppo himself could not help but smile at the sliver of playfulness Jiren was showing, it was a sign of a change. It was a show of a character that Toppo and no one else had ever seen in their time. He could imagine Jiren being a pure sweetheart underneath all of his aloofness, he's just been afraid for too long. He liked seeing Jiren show even the _tiniest_ of a smirk, he liked seeing him interested and brewing with something in those nebulous, black eyes.

This was the start of that era once again in Jiren's life. And Toppo was willing to be there through every step in his sworn friend's change.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Did I mention how much I love these two? Or how much I adore Toppo?**

 **Toppo is the friend we all need, he is loyal, he's persevering, he's there to make sure you aren't having a bad day. He's a sweet dude, I love him.** **And I know some of y'all are shipping them, dammit.**

 **And yeah, I always thought that Jiren, as a kid, put so much responsibility on himself because of his power and he ended up not having much of a childhood. He just seems like a lost child to me now. I ended up getting that from that backstory tidbit we got, and besides I've been lowkey looking into it for quite a while… hnn…**

 **Any** _ **who**_ **, I'll see you people like two weeks from now xD**


	19. Your Cousins Ain't Shit

**I'm just gonna** _ **slide this in here because of last chapter's reference to Vuon's cousins… Now**_ **I'll see you all on 4/20.**

 **Vuon seems like a funky character… the shit he and his cousins get into might be even funnier. Idk why I thought of this, it was a spur of the moment thing.**

 **So these Dinosaur Dragon Tale ass fellers were once on a camping trip. Things were going very well for the most part.**

 **I'll reiterate:** _ **For the most part…**_

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Your Cousins Ain't Shit**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

"May I have everybody's attention please?"

In came Whin, he opened the large, family sized tent's opening with one arm and stepped in calmly. The family tent was big enough to seven people in and still have a lofty amount of space for supplies and then some. In the tent sat everyone of his cousins including Vuon, who was lounged against the ground.

Whin continued, clearing his throat formally. "I just found a thing of traps on the floor near the camping spot and I went to get my _new_ shoes only to find it stuck within one of the traps." And then he stepped in fully and cracked his knuckles. "So who in here wanna _fucking_ die?"

Zin blinked like five times throughout Whin's whole monologue, and then he straight faced when his own brother started getting tough. "Whin, sit the hell down."

" _Wat_?" Whin gave his brother a look. "Someone fucks wit' my new shoes, I fuck with their _life expectancy_."

"Whin, if you swing at somebody, you'll fuck around and miss, then hit yourself in the process." Vuon sat up. "Nobody purposely put that there. We were all sitting here in peace and quiet."

" _VuVuzela_." Whin called Vuon by his childhood nickname. "You know how much I spent on those pair of shoes."

Zin frowned. "I bought those-"

" _Hundreds of dragos_." Whin clarified.

Zin gave him a look. "That was all my money-"

"And I didn't use _anyone_ else's money for that shit!" Whin stepped in and plopped down on the right where quite Cazz was. She was sitting and reading a book. But Zin was ready to pour tea with the quickness.

"Bitch, that was _my_ money you used." The green dragon gave his brother a look. "You know damn well you don't make enough to buy that pair on your own."

" _Shhhhhh."_ Whin said. The purple dinosaur held his finger up too. Or, the blue dinosaur, looked over at Whin. The blue dinosaur had a bag of chips in has hand, and if anyone needs to know anything about Or, it's that he _loves_ to eat. His favorite passtime is eating, his hobby is eating, his sport is _eating_. Vuon wishes the author was lying.

"Look Whin," he paused in the middle of chewing, "If there is anything… all of us know… it's that, _mmm_." Or closed his eyes in his chewing, _damn_ those chips taste good, "... You get much support from your brother because... your money literally goes everywhere _else_."

Vuon blinked at Or. "Didn't you eat like two minutes ago?"

"I wasn't finished."

"Dude, you ate a _whole_ quick-ready steak, and now you're eating like five bags of chips." Vuon frowned at him.

"That was the _past_." Or reinstated, licking his damn blue fingertips. "Stop dwelling on the _past."_

Vuon shook his head; these were the cousins. These six individuals were the ones who grew up the closest of him. Or was a blue dinosaur who… pretty much can't go five minutes without _eating_ something, and he's scared of everything despite being like eight feet tall.

Zin and Whin are brothers, with Zin had green skin, being the most sensible and methodical one of the half, probably moreso than Vuon himself. Whin was _not_ methodical; he was purple, he was clumsy, his accent was much worse than Zin and he's fiesty for no damn reason, always picking fights with everybody.

There was this one time he fought a fly because the thing flew too close to him. He ended up on the floor twice, we'll just assumed the fly suplexed him twice on that behalf.

Cazz is the pink skinned dinosaur. She's the quietest one in the group, but not in the same sense that Jiren was; she was _sweet as pie_. She never yelled at anyone, she was calm and collected, and she didn't have any kind of beef with the others. She loved them all, they were all her cousins.

Tzal is a yellow skinned dinosaur, he is the oldest in the group. He's also the one to bear the _bestest of wisdom_ , in his own words. He's also a cool individual, and has _libraries_ of books at his own home, but when he gives advice he also keeps it elusive so that the person asking can find their own path through his parables. This guy is legitimately the Buddha of the group.

"Uhh…" Zin blinked. "You know what, if you're that butthurt over your shoes, why don't you go back out there and get them? Vuon knows how to pick at traps, he can release them for you." The green dinosaur, the _voice of reason_ , said this to Whin. His brother paused for a moment before considering the idea, going back out to look for his shoes.

Vuon sighed. "You would think he'd actually _bring them in_ when he came here to pick a fight."

"Do you _really_ think Whin has enough corkscrews in his brain to formulate that before throwing tails?" Zin shook his head.

Then Cazz, who's been sweetly sitting down in peace, looks at Zin. "I'm sure he just got too upset to do that from the get go. He'll be back soon."

The sweet pink dinosaur's words did enough to calm down the annoyed atmosphere down. Tzal, who was sitting on one of the inflatable chairs. "Does it take this long to get something that's right outside the tent?"

Whin has been out for more than a minute now. They all assumed that his shoes would be like within common-pace around the tent's area, but apparently not. A minute later, Whin came in looking distraught and confused.

"...Where are my shoes?"

"Does it look like we went out there and friggin' took them while you were searching?" Vuon gestured at him, as if they were somehow culprits for Whin's missing shoes.

"No no, I wasn't asking that to you. I'm just saying that the trap was still there…" Whin looked back and then at them. "But my shoes are gone."

"They are?" Tzal stood up. "How?"

Cazz furrowed a pink brow. "You left it in the same place, did you?"

"The _same spot_." Whin even articulated, holding his arms out as if the trap was right in front of him. "It was in the _same place_ before, and now it's just _kapoot_ : _gone_."

"Alright, you know what…" Vuon stood up and stretched. "You wanna go look for it at least?"

"Of course I do." Whin said, and then the purple dinosaur just stood there.

 _Several seconds_ of silence passed before Vuon awkwardly blinked, and had to articulate. "Then _go look_."

"I can't." Whin turned around to go outside. "It's dark out…"

They were in a large opening within the woods, and it was nighttime. The sky was _pitch black_ , the only viable source of light came from the orange moon. What lies outside of the opening were nothing but trees condensed together, there were barely any patches of moonlight that would bleed through the outer premises beyond the opening.

And that is scary as _heck_. Hell _no_ , Whin ain't gonna go out there all alone.

Zin groaned. "You aren't afraid of the dark."

"I'm afraid of _what might be in it_." Whin retorted. He wasn't _wrong_ for giving that reason alone. "Can you guys come with me?"

Tzal shook his head. "If all of us leave, then who's to say this tent would stay standing?" He crossed his arms. "I will stay here just in case. Cazz?"

Cazz looked up. The sweet dinosaur sheepishly smiled at all her male cousins. "This book is interesting…"

"You know what, _I'll_ go." Zin stood up, already annoyed as heck to be dragged into this mess. "Vuon?"

Don't think the Pride Trooper was going to go into this _without_ protesting. "Why?"

"We need somebody who can _actually_ fight, you know, just in case." Zin smiled at him and Vuon cracked the tiniest bit of a smirk.

"Fine, fine." He shouldn't have said that.

"Hey!" Whin snapped his fingers. "I know how to fi-"

"Whin, the only fight you ever won was with Nebus One." Zin straight faced. "And that was in a _video game_. You _know_ you can't fight."

Vuon stood up, going along with the green and purple dinosaur before pausing and turning back. They needed someone who _looked_ imposing, and the three of them were not all that tall at all. So he went to the tallest person in this entire group. "Or, come with us."

Or whipped his head up. You know how scared this man is? He even flinched at the _idea_ of leaving the tent at this time of night. "But I don't want to!"

Vuon sighed, exasperated. "You need the damn cardio, come with us!" The blue dinosaur sighed and stood up, leaving and exiting the tent with the kindly bidded farewell from both Cazz and Tzal. This entire endeavor should not take more than five minutes.

The four males thought that this venture would be as short as Vuon's tail, having that Whin came into the tent mayhaps less than a minute after he found his shoes, and they were following a supposed trail that extended from the open trap. Logically, it may have been placed somewhere else really close to their tent and they could have retrieved it and called it a day, but apparently...

" _Ugh_ , we still haven't found it!" Whin sighed in despair.

"How long have we been out here?" Vuon asked. He looked around the stretch of darkness that surrounded the four of them.

"Uhh…" Or looked down at his phone. "Fifteen minutes…" He started shivering at the sight of this place. "I wanna go back…"

"We're not _going back_ until we find my shoes, big guy!" Whin suddenly garnered energy to sound motivating. As quickly as it came, he deflated, staring ahead at whatever was in front of them with his flashlight in hand. It is so _daaaark…_

Whin looked to the others. "You guys have any ideas?"

There was a long stretch of silence between the men, but Vuon noticed the distance between everyone else and quickly voiced his piece. "I swear, if one of you fuckers say 'split up', I'm killing you my damn self."

"Why would we split up?" Zin frowned.

"Do you not see how dark it is?" Or said.

"I'm _aware_ , but I'd have to say that before any of you would suggest that." Vuon pointed at his cousins, and Whin snorted.

"Split up? Who the heck's idea would be to _split up?_ That is the worst thing we could do at this point."

… The ironic thing is that _that_ was Whin's first idea. Of course he'd play it off like it was absolutely _stupid_.

"The most we can do," Zin raised both hands, "Is continue on. Or has his phone, his tracker is on at least so we can relocate back at the tent if we venture too far. Keep it moving, we got enough juice in our lights, we're good." Then he snapped his fingers and pointed ahead. "Now let's go."

Another ten minutes had passed, they were exceptionally farther from the tent now, crossing what is known as the _No Dino's Land_.

Dubbed by locals and his cousins alike, this particular area was the _scariest_ place in the entire planet. It was foggy and misty within the more condensed part of these woods, you couldn't see less than twenty feet ahead of you even _with_ a flashlight. The openings were eerie, echo-induced premises that nobody would dare to step into, even if they were _marginally_ safer than the woods themselves.

"This isn't good…" Vuon said. "This place is haunted like hell."

"It _is_ hell." Zin looked at the Pride Trooper. "Even our flashlights won't help that much with seeing anything."

"You guys…" Whin cautiously looked at Vuon and Zin.

"What?" His brother turned to him, with Vuon seconding that action.

"What is it?"

Whin looked amongst them. "Where's Or?"

Vuon closed his eyes. _Oh for fuck's sake_. "Why did he move away from us, dammit? Now he's lost."

"Actually, he's not." Zin shook his head. "He's the one with the tracker on his phone. If he leaves, then _we're_ lost."

"Oh _no nono no no,_ I can't _possibly_ be lost in here with you guys." Whin shook his head multiple times.

"I'm pretty sure he wandered off and is probably pissing himself because he's alone." Vuon looked around. "Follow the scent of _fear_ in the air, and you might track him down."

Zin snorted. "Or call out for him." That suggestion alone made the two older (yes, Zin was younger than Whin. You'd think _he'd_ be the one acting a fool) dinosaurs stare at him. "Look, the least that can happen is some giant monster comes and tries to eat us. Vuon knows combat, don't look at me like we'll all be in peril if that happens."

Vuon opened his mouth to say something else, but decided to agree on that behalf. "... you'd be right." He turned away and started calling for the fat dinosaur. "Or!"

"Or!"

Whin followed suit. "Or! Let's walk around, he's probably near us."

Within ten calls of the blue dinosaur's name, they heard a tiny whimper from their right. Collectively, the cousins looked in that general direction; there were a bunch of haphazard vines that obstructed their view so they couldn't make out if that indeed _was_ Or or not. Vuon pushed several vines back, and the whimpering came to an abrupt halt.

Yup, that was Or, alright.

They couldn't make out anything because of the fog, so when Vuon stepped forward and stretched the vines a bit so his cousins can get through, he started strolling backwards to talk with the brothers. "I think he's somewhere he-"

" _AAAAAAHHH!"_

" _OH FU-"_ Vuon jumped out of his shoes when he felt something collide with his back _and_ when he heard that loud, _more than familiar_ scaredy shriek from behind him. Something went flying in the midst of the action, both Zin and Whin _fell_ to the floor yelping in fret as Vuon stumbled backwards…

This man, this _seven something foot dinosaur_ Or, had curled himself into a ball, covering his eyes, and was shaking in utter fear right beside a tree. God _dammit…_

" _OR!"_ Zin quickly got up and approached the big ass blue dinosaur and started shaking him out of the fear ridden state he was in with his kind words. "GET THE FUCK UP! IT'S _US_ , YOU _MOO-MOO_!"

The term _moo-moo_ in their culture is synonymous with our terminology of a 'wuss' or 'chicken'. Now you see 2 percent of the reasons why Vuon hates friggin' DinoMoo. The other 98 percent is because DinoMoo just _looks_ _wrong_.

Or stammered in his speech, wobbly getting up and looking at the three smaller males before him. They were all surprised he didn't friggin' piss himself with how terrified he was just now.

And he had a reason for it. "T-t-the- I saw a-a-a- I was-"

" _Words."_ Whin snapped his fingers in Or's face. " _Use them."_

Or recollected himself quickly, taking deep breaths while Vuon and his cousins listened in. "There was a friggin' ghoul thing out there and it was making all kinds of scary noises and then I heard my name and I thought that was the ghoul at first-" Or shook his head.

"Wait." Zin raised a hand. "You confused _our voices_ for ghouls?"

Or paused before reasoning. "I was _scared_!"

Vuon sighed. He really needs to switch out of this family tree.

"Where is it?" Whin asked.

"Where is what?" Or looked at the purple dinosaur.

"Where'd you see the ghoul?"

"Umm… down there somewhere." Or pointed behind him. "I was backing out of that area before I came to you guys."

"Alright," Whin suddenly clasped his hands, already heading in that direction, "Let's go."

"Wait wait." Or raised an empty hand, stopping the shorter dinosaur. "Why are you going over there?"

Like a genius, Whin cracked his knuckles. "I'ma go fight the ghoul."

Zin blinked at Whin. "How are you gonna fight a ghoul?"

"I won't have to hit him." Whin make a notion as if her was cracking his neck. "I can just insult him."

Or frowned. "How are you gonna insult him? The ghoul can't hear you."

This is the part where Vuon facepalms. "How do you know, Or? _How do you know_?"

"They can't! One time I screamed at one and he didn't do anything, he just stared at me."

"Maybe they have bad audio service in the afterlife." Whin shrugged.

This is the part where Vuon facepalms _again._

"You guys are idiots." Zin shook his head for the ninetieth time. "Insults won't hurt a ghoul."

"Then I'll throw sage at him!"

"Throwing sage won't work if you don't _light_ the shit up, dammit." Zin gave his brother an annoyed look. "Let's just, let's just continue on, dammit… geez." "Aren't you a bit worried?"

Tzal look at Cazz, the pink dinosaur was standing near him. Finishing her book, she expected them to be returning within ten minutes or less. The female dinosaur had voiced her concern after they had been gone for a good twenty minutes.

"I'm sure they're still looking." Tzal picked up a book from his own duffle bag. Like Cazz, he carries a bunch of entertainment in his bag during trips, they come in the form of _literature._ "Or has the tracker with him. They'll be fine."

Cazz sighed, she was sort of on the fence on behalf of their whereabouts. The pink dinosaur took to the small self-cabinet by her belongings while Tzal looked down at his book.

"You can stay here."

Her quiet voice filled the giant tent again after a few minutes, and Tzal looked up to see Cazz with her shoes on. "Oh, you're going out too? Welp, make sure you be safe."

"I'll be fine. I have the tracker on my phone too. As long as you don't move from this tent, I can return easily." Cazz smiled down at him.

"Oh I'm certain." Tzal smiled. "But you'd never know what's out there."

She was exiting the tent. "Right." Cazz turned around to wave with a smile. "I'll see you soon."

"Are we even going in the right direction at this point?"

Finally, _finally_ Vuon had to point this out. Zin looked back at him. "I'll be damned if we weren't. Whin said something about a trail that was left by the trap, we've been following it for like thirty something minutes now."

Or suddenly shook. "Y-you guys…"

"What?" Whin turned around.

"I have two concerns right now." Or raised two big fingers. "First of all, where's the trail?"

The four had looked down to realize that this rugged dirt path did not have the specific trail that they saw when they weren't in _No Dino's Land_. _Shitfuck…_

"...And I think I lost my flashlight."

"You LOST your flashlight?!" Zin exclaimed.

"Why are you so worried? We have three other flashlights available." Whin's smart response was supplemented with an even _smarter_ one.

"If we _run out of battery juice,_ we won't _have_ three flashlights anymore. The more lights we have, the better our overall survivability is."

"...Oh…" Whin looked down. "Shit…"

"Guys, we haven't traveled _that_ far from where we were last time." Vuon said. "Like, from where we ran into Or. He might have dropped his flashlight from being spooked."

"Ahhh, right." Whin said.

"I did see it go flying, like in the opposite direction of where I came from." Or said.

"Then it should be to our right." Zin turned around. "Let's flush."

They went back to the area where Or curled himself into a defenseless ball, and went across from the tree he was against. Vuon had to move a bunch of intertwined vines out of the way, a few meters into their trek they entered the end of the misty woods, but now they were facing an opening.

Because of the way the wind was always blowing, and how this opening was naturally shaped, there was always this hollow screeching sound that manages to get louder with stronger winds. Since the breeze was quite calm today, the only thing they heard were slowed down, deeper sounding echoes of hollering. Either way, it was still flipping scary to be in this area.

But, within ten feet of the ghastly opening, laid Or's bright flashlight facing away from the four guys. Vuon was about to step out first with his cousins lingering behind, but then he felt a drift of something against his left shoulder, with the sound of a hushed grunt by his ear.

It was as if some _other hand_ tugged at his sleeve. Another ghast like noise came about and it started pushing against Or's big midsection.

Instantly, the Pride Trooper and his cousins fell the fuck back, having retreated and literally gathering themselves up like a giant mass of dinos. Of course, Whin had gripped against the fabric of Zin's sweater, and Zin shifted himself away from Vuon's shoulder.

"Come on Vuon, you were about to go get it, go out there!" Or said, and as for him…

Or was _at least a foot taller_ than Tzal, who was the second tallest of the cousin group with Vuon following right after, and here this big dinosaur was _huddled_ right next to Vuon, shaking… and his breath smelled like the minute bars he ate more than half an hour ago.

"You go do it!"

"I'm not going there, gosh damn it!" Or gave Vuon a glare, and the dinosaur straight faced at him.

"You _need_ the exercise, Or! Go out there, get _your_ friggin light, and get the fuck outta dodge! It's right there!"

"If it's _right there,_ " Or floppily gestured to the flashlight that's literally out in the opening, just twenty feet away from the four, "Why don't _you_ go get it?!"

"I asked _you_ to do it, you nutcase!"

"Well I'm not _doing it!_ "

"Are the both of you guys _done_?" Zin gave the two a very impatient look. The green dinosaur looked out into the opening. "Fuck this, I'll go god dammit, since the both of you are big _moo-moos_ and can't get the damn light _y'allselves_."

Whin looked at his brother. "Bro… I don't think that's a good idea."

Zin slow turned, he was just next to the bushes as he did so too. "You _never_ think when it comes to ideas."

"Well _today_ ," Whin snapped his fingers, "I say that this ain't a good idea!"

"I'm pretty sure whatever is out there would have ate us already, since we're all so _LOUD_." Vuon emphasized the last word at his four male cousins. "Keep your voices down, for fuck's sake."

"Okay okay okay… you know what, here's a safer route: I'ma count to three, alright?" Zin lowered his voice accordingly, reeling in his three cousins. "I'm gonna count to three, and we're all gonna go out there together, grab the damn flashlight, and run out of there."

Whin looked at his younger brother. "Why us four?"

"It minimizes our chances of seeing one of us _die_." Zin explained, though the other three cousins of his just gave him a look. "It makes _sense_ , okay!"

"You know what fine, fine, we'll all go…" Vuon turned to the obvious blue wuss out of all of them and emphasized himself. " _ **We'll all go**_ , on the count to three."

"Right," Zin looked out to the opening, "On three, alright? One…"

The guys had gotten poised, ready to _set it and forget it_. "... _Two…"_

At this point, they all could be emerging track stars with the way they were all so ready to artfully grab and run away. They were so into it, that they didn't even hear the tiniest of footsteps approach them.

And they sure as hell did not expect to hear a quiet voice right behind them.

"You guys."

The four males yelped so loud that they spread out in their jumps, Whin and Zin went backwards and Vuon ran the fuck away only to bump into a tree. _Or,_ forget about him in this case; this man jumped so high he held on to a tree branch shaking like a startled cat. Vuon looked up, from being on the floor, along with Zin and Whin to see that the person behind them was-

" _Cazz?!"_

Remember when it was mentioned that Cazz was quiet? Apparently, she's also the Bear Grylls of camping trips, because this woman traveled out here to get the guys on her _own_. She went through _No Dino's Land_ solo, and didn't even scream or yell or nothing, and here she was, as calm as she always is, addressing the spooked out male cousins of hers.

"I'm sorry I startled you all." She raised her hands apologetically. "I just came by to get you guys since you've been gone for almost forty minutes now."

She heard the sound of something cracking above her. She looked up, only to see Or fall several feet to the ground still holding on to the surprisingly big branch. Apparently, the sturdy branch could not accommodate Or's weight, and he fell in his own fright and stupor.

And with that happening, Zin passed right through that incident as if it didn't even happen. "Okay _no!_ " He got himself up, incredulous at how friggin' _calm_ she was, in this deadly, dastardly place. "How the _hell did you get here so quickly?!_

Cazz blinked. Common sense may or may not have been lost in the heat of their terror, so she answered politely. "I tracked Or's phone, and found you guys all bunched together."

That made each and every single one of the four stooges stop, completely dumbfounded. And then, like a light bulb going on, they all reeled back with simultaneous ' _Ohhh's_. She giggled. "Why were you all huddled up together?"

"Well…" Vuon took a breath. " _This one_ didn't wanna go out and get his own flashlight on the ground over there."

Or smacked Vuon's pointed finger off of him. "I'm _not_ here to go and die!"

"You won't die! Just _run_ and get it!"

"Does it _look_ like I can run?!" Or gestured to himself. "I take one hard step and I'll break my own ankles, I weight just as much as this tree." or pointed to the tallest, widest tree near them. "I can't even sprint more than _five_ miles an hour on a _trackmill_."

To put that into perspective, five miles an hour is _fast walking speed_. And this guy can't outbeat that pace.

Like an asshole, Zin started cackling before composing himself quickly, once everyone turned to him. "I'm sorry."

"You can't even _run_ , Zin. Don't come at me." Or gave him a look.

"Bitch I got more potential in _crawling_ than you do in _jogging_." Zin crossed his arms. "If I'm wrong, go out and get your flashlight and come the heck back."

" _Hell no_!"

"Hell _yes_!"

"I'll go."

Zin, Whin, Vuon and Or turned to Cazz. The Pride Trooper addressed the quiet woman. "You'll go, Cazz?"

"I don't think arguing would get the job done, wouldn't it?" Cazz smiled at the guys. She's such a sweetheart. "You all can stay here, I'll go into the opening."

"But Cazz…" Or said. "There's ghosts and shit there. One of them pushed me and Vuon."

"But they can't do anything else besides scare me." Her polite voice can truly mask how _savage_ she low-key can be. She turned around, and dipped right into the opening. Even Or jumped a little at how quickly she went. They saw the light move before it was turned off, and several seconds later, Cazz dipped right back into the area they were standing in.

Toppo, Jiren, Kahseral, and Kunshi would absolutely _admire_ this woman for how swift she is.

Zin looked from the opening, to the flashlight in Cazz's hand. He watched as she just casually handed it to Or and shook his head. "Whoever marries you is a lucky fuck."

Vuon and Whin laughed, and Cazz giggled at her cousin. "Thank you? I think we should go back now."

That made the purple dinosaur stand straight suddenly. "But… my shoes-"

" _Fuck your shoes_!" Zin caught his brother quickly. "We have been scared out of our asses for the past… how long have we been out, Cazz?"

She looked down at her phone. "Fifty five minutes, almost an hour."

"For DAMN NEAR AN HOUR!" The green dinosaur grabbed his older brother's arm. "We're going _back to the tent."_

Amidst the arguing and roast sessions, Cazz's phone started to ring. She looked down at it, seeing it was Tzal, and pressed the blue answer button. "Yes?"

"How mad would they be if they found out they wasted their time?"

Cazz blinked. "What do you mean?"

Tzal looked down at the small animal before him, called a _Likipa_. It was tiny and had tropical green-cyan gradient fur. It's tiny black paws were on the ground, though the cute big eyed creature meant no harm. It just saw Tzal's giant body walk towards it, and it paused for a moment before Tzal calmly held a friendly hand out towards it…

Because the lipika was holding both of Whin's shoes by its mouth.

Having created a short, small trail in the _same direction_ that Whin and his cousin had already went into, the lipika had picked up the shoes once it got a better grip on them and start heading in a completely different direction altogether. Now, the adorable creature was sitting just several feet away from the tent, and Tzal momentarily went outside only to find the lipika right there.

"Well… I-" The yellow dinosaur blinked before frowning. "Are they arguing over there?"

She turned to the four males, hearing things like _moo-moo, Scrappy_ and _baby fat blue_ being thrown around. She sighed back into the phone. " _Yes_ …"

Tzal sighed. "Geez, okay. So you see, I found Whin's shoes."

"Really? Where?" Cazz was shocked, the guys had traveled so far and so long from their tent. If Tzal found it, he himself must have followed some sort of trail or something. According to the argument going on behind her, the guys followed a trail that was right by the actual trap itself. So Tzal must've went pretty far out-

"It's right in next to the tent, a lipika is holding them."

"...Huh?" The pink dinosaur paused momentarily. "The shoes were right by our tent?"

That _instantly_ brought the four men out of their clapbacks. Whin was the _first_ to react. "MY SHOES WERE _BY THE TENT?!_ "

"THEY WERE _WHAT?!"_ And then Vuon jumped right up to Cazz's phone. "Tzal _found_ them?!"

"So much for _traveling out here_ for no reason!" Zin shot a look at his older brother. "We could have _waited_ it out!"  
Whin quickly retorted. "Like this 'by-chance' incident would happen had we waited!"

"Well okay, uhh," Cazz looked at Vuon and then to the phone, "They're not happy about this."

"Not happy is an _understatement_." Vuon shook his head.

"But at least we found them, Vuon." Cazz reasoned, then turned back to Tzal. "We're gonna come back, just take the shoes."

"Alright." Tzal sighed, looking down at the confused lipika. All he had to do was get the shoes off of the animal's mouth. "I'll see you all in another hour."

"Right." Cazz sighed, and then ended her call to address the guys. "We can return to the tent now."

Whin plopped himself onto the ground. "Now we gotta spend _another_ hour walking back home."

"To be fair, with the tracker, I got here in twenty minutes." Cazz smiled down at him. "It's not that bad, you all have just been wandering."

That made a lot of sense, though having to walk through this landscape of _terror_ once more was too grueling. At first, came reluctance from the guys. Or suddenly perked up with a terrific idea. "Vuon!"

The dinosaur Trooper turned around. "What?"

"You can fly, right?"

Sine at this time, Vuon was a lot younger than he is now. So he was a novice-appoint to the Pride Troopers. He knew how to fly very well, just not far enough to pass through this planet's atmosphere, or fast enough to fly from one planet in this galaxy to another in minutes.

That's pretty damn fast if you ask me.

"How much can you lift?"

"Like uhh… 8,000 horns?" One horn is approximately sixteen pounds. Vuon had a wary look on his face all of the sudden. "...Why do you ask?"

"Can you fly us back?"

It _was_ a terrific idea, at best.

Vuon straight faced. "You think I could support all _four_ of you on my back?"

"No no like," Or started to gesture, "I hold onto you, and then Whin holds on to me, and so on and so forth."

This sounded like a really brilliant plan, but the _sight_ would've deemed it retarded overall.

Whin tilted his head. "So we're gonna be a floating dino-kite?"

"I mean, it's faster than walking back to the tent, isn't it?" Or bargained, and then he looked at Vuon, who was sizing Or up. This fat dinosaur is gonna _rip_ his pants off with how scared he inherently is. "Isn't it?"

Vuon closed his eyes. "It is… _fine._ " He decided. "Hold on to me. And everyone else will hold one another by their waists, and _only_ their waist." He felt Or's arms against his waist already. "At least don't _crush_ me, Or."

"Sorry." Or apologized. "I'm afraid of heights."

"The fuck-then why would you pitch such an idea?!" Whin gesticulated, literally getting frustrated at Or's difficult arse.

"It's faster!"

"Just _hold on to me already!_ " Vuon soured, he looked up at the sky. "I don't want no one's pants falling off while we're airborne..."

Tzal expected these guys to be back in an hour. He had set Whin's shoes in the tent, and was also holding the little lipika against his big arms.

Those things are cute, okay. Tzal couldn't help it.

He stood up with the lipika murmuring in his arm. The dinosaur opened the tent's entrance again just to look at how dark the sky is right now.

He did _not_ expect to see a _flying_ string bean-esque band of people in the air, and apparently, they noticed him too. The older dinosaur, and even the lipika, blinked up at the ridiculous sight in the air, now all he heard was the string bean band hollering his name.

"Tzal!" Whin waved at him with one hand as they descended. The first person to touch the ground was Cazz, followed by Zin, Whin, Or and finally Vuon. Vuon had to descend until Or's feet were touching the ground because this idiot had his eyes closed, and the second he released Vuon, the Trooper had to take a deep _relieved_ breath in from nearly suffocating for the past minute.

Tzal did a long blink. Well, _that was convenient_. "So you just decided to fly here?"

"Yup." Zin said. "Don't judge us, okay."

"Where are my shoes?" Whin asked, impatient.

"...In the tent." Tzal pointed with his thumb, and Whin went into the tent immediately. The lipika piqued up and climbed its way up his shoulder.

"...Is that the lipika that had Whin's shoes?" Cazz asked, and Whin quickly turned around to look back.

Tzal nodded. "Yup." He smiled at it as it swiveled back onto his arm. "He's adorable, ain't he?"

"That moofucker stole my shoes?!"

Of course, both Zin and Vuon shook their heads when they heard that tone of voice from Whin. That is the tone of _poundcakes_ ; if you're familiar with that term, it all means he's _ready to throw tails again._

"Uhh," Tzal raised a brow, "Yes?"

"Put him down." Whin already had his shoes on. He pulled his pants up, crouched a bit, and then raised his hands. "He's getting it now."

" _Whin."_ Zin took a moment to emphasize his brother's name again. " _Whin_ … I _know_ you aren't about to fight a tiny lipika over your _damn_ shoes!"

Vuon facepalmed _again._ " _Geez,_ Do you just wanna fight with everybody?"

"I _might just want to."_

"I'll call one of my Trooper buddies to fight you, I'll call Jiren."

Whin paused for a moment with a frown. "Isn't that the big eyed bald grey guy with the really nice butt?"

Cazz giggled. Vuon had just gotten affiliated with the Pride Troopers. Unfortunately, this was the description he, _verbatim_ , gave to Whin at one point. That was before he heard Jiren speak, and saw Jiren walk, and watch Jiren do… pretty much anything.

"...Yes."

"No, hell no, fuck _that._ " Whin righted himself abruptly. "I heard that guy smacked somebody and they didn't realize it until they crashed into a body of water that was miles away."

"I think you're good shit for him."

"Shut up, Zin." Whin shot a look at his brother.

Or looked around at the others. It was relieving to be back here in the safety of their tent. Luckily enough, everything was back to normal at least. But there was something quite off, not with them, but with Or himself.

He can feel the empty space within his pants pocket _._

"Guys…"

Just as everyone had settled down, and was about to go back into the tent to relax and possibly sleep after the night, Or had raised his sudden concern, which was forgotten due to his fear of heights, and his fear of essentially… everything. "...I dropped my phone somewhere."

There was a pause, a long silence, before the _pissed offness_ and irritation poured right back into their facial expressions (well except for Cazz, she just shook her head). The atmosphere went from chilled and relieved to annoyed and crabbed, and the males all expressed this current with one single phrase:

"Oh, for _FUCKS SAKE, OR!_ "

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **In case any of you guys were wondering, and I'd be surprised if you caught this, the cousins' names and personalities were loosely based off of the dragons from** _ **Dragon Tales.**_ **Even though they're dragons and Vuon and his cousins are dinosaurs, I just couldn't help the puns. I'm serious XD.**


	20. Feta Ray Shenanigans

**Happy birthday to me, boi! :D. I'ma be busy during the day, so this is an early upload, at least in my timezone, but I have some things to nail down, okay…**

 **Here's the thing; this particular brand of one-shots is going to take a hiatus.**

 **Yes, I said it, there will be a break from seeing these fellow Pride Troopers and their silly stories.**

 **I am going through a bit of difficulty in the real world, so I will have to thwart my uploads a lot more to the point where I can safely call this a hiatus. I** _ **know**_ **, I done dropped a bomb here, but life has tendency to just… dropkick you.**

 **It sucks, at best.**

 **Even Unfair Punishment, for the most part, has been thwarted a bit, but that story's hiatus is over now. I'm sure I can pick up the pace quite soon enough once school and other things start to ease off. :)**

 **Quite coincidental that some of you wanna see some more Jiren and Cocotte interaction, because this chapter** _ **is**_ **that. This was written like a month in advance lmao.**

 **Khai discovers some lost tech and spends some of the time decoding and changing it because… he was bored...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Feta Ray Shenanigans**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

To say that Khai had been busy with something completely irrelevant was an understatement.

He took some time out of his days, out of the many days he's been living, to examine the device in front of him. It was dark and heavy, shaped like a small sentry ray gun with a short stand because of its mass. The device was meant to be placed on a table and aimed at a target, shooting a spiral-shaped ray at the designated target. Apparently, the device was patented to shrink someone until they're half their normal height.

Don't ask how he knows this. It's not what you _think_.

There is a _wee_ bit of science behind its mechanism; no it didn't include any of that magic-shit, rather the frequency of the ray was strong enough to temporarily alter the state of a person's DNA, targeting the receptors that control the height of their being. The effects would last for a month, even the biggest of men would be subjected to the ray's effect.

No, it's not the reason why Zoiray is so short; his 'effects' last _forever_.

So when Khai came across this lost remnant he was interested enough to see the inner workings of how this thing operated. He knew of _every_ species' biologic and genetic structure/makeup in his own universe, he was surprised that whoever made this knew much about gene splicing and RNA replication, which are two of the many catalysts used in the ray's operation. Out of boredom and intriguement, the Kaioshin opened, dissected, and tweaked the device so that instead of shortening anyone's height, it would revitalize telomeres and rejuvenate lengthy stem cell production.

A.K.A… this thing could turn any man or woman into a _fetus_.

Now, today, the first thing this hyped up nerdy Kaioshin did was carry the large heavy ray (it ain't that heavy to him) over to where Belmond was. The God of Destruction was sitting with Marcarita in one of the smaller Pride Trooper bases in Kanpin, along with Cocotte. The doors were kicked open by a small white-booted foot and they saw a quirky Khai walking in carrying this huge ray gun about the size of his torso. He plopped the device on the table and then smiled down at it, while the Destroyer, the Angle, and the Trooper all paused and raised a brow.

"What is that?" Cocotte pointed.

" _This_ ," Khai gestured elegantly, "Is a ray… or , as I would like to call it, the _Feta-Ray_."

This made them all raise both eyebrows. If any of you _nerds_ come at me for making a pun to the _beta ray_ I'll snatch you.

"The _what_?" Belmod blinked and leaned forward. "I don't understand…"

"It was once used to shrink people, Lord Belmod." Khai briefly surmised. "I've tweaked the system a bit so that it could turn anyone into a fetus."

Belmod gave the _longest look_ he could muster. "...Why?" Then he frowned. "Is _this_ what you meant by ' _I am being busy for the moment_ '?"

Told you it was an understatement.

" _Yes._ " Khai was adamant in his nerdiness, he is not afraid to admit that he's been fascinated by this little knickknack. "But it indeed does work."

"...How do you know?"

It was understandable to hear the caution in Belmod's timbre. Usually with things like that, such a conclusive statement comes from _testing_ the actual device. "Do not _worry_ , Belmod, I just _know_ that it works."

" _But how do you know?"_

"Belmod…" Khai reasoned. "I have every genetic probability _memorized_ , I know what certain DNA comparisons work and what don't."

"Okay, o _kayyy_ y." Belmod raised two hands. "So you just came here to show us this?"

"Yes."

Belmod looked at Cocotte. "What do you think of this?"

"It's… it's interesting." Was her honest reply. She already figured that the Gods have been so bored with their job that they do something as weird and as crazy as this. Khai isn't the crazy type but… he's a geek.

Geeks in general are some crazy motherfuckers.

"It _is, Belmod_. I know what you're trying to do." Khai shot a look at Belmod who gave him a cheesed up grin. "I'll explain this in full detail, you all still look confused."

"Why not relay us with that, Khai?" Marcarita smiled. "I think it would be really interesting."

"Oh it _is_. So, here's the deal with this device…"

Somewhere in the base was the all-too-familiar-to-us Grey walking through the empty base, or the parts of it that were empty. At first, he was perched crossed legged on the roof of the base. This base wasn't near any city, and the breeze was nice and warm, so he initially was meditating and now aimlessly wandered through the empty halls, void of any noise or distractions, just pure silence.

He kinda just… does that. He just wanders everywhere.

Jiren did know that there were three, now four, presences within this base. He knew that Belmod knew he was here too, and that alone was why he was on the _far right_ of the innards of the base while everyone else was on the left. That isn't to say that he wasn't avoiding them, he was just… selectively walking away from them to uhh… just to keep them from getting distracted by him…

Screw it, he _was_ avoiding interaction with them.

You know that saying 'It's not you, it's me'? It applies heavily to him, and the only reason it does is because he's already got a bad feeling of something coming from their way. Hopefully there won't be anything to bother the silent Grey before he c-

 _Jiren._

 _Annnnd_ there it goes.

Belmod was calling him again. The man blinked and looked down at the ground to ascertain whether or not he wanted to _answer_ , and then he heard it in his mind again.

 _Jiren… Jiren_ …

Uhh, is there a way to get _bad telepathic signal?_ Is there a specific location as to where Jiren could just go ' _sorry, there's no service here'_ because Jiren might have to teleport there since he didn't want to-

 _ **Jiren.**_

 _I can hear you._ He ought to respond. At _least_ he can be polite about it in his own way.

 _Come here, there's something I have to show you._

Jiren was just standing in the middle of an empty hall, straight facing because he did not want to be a part of this _show and tell_ business. But instead, he refrained, he pushed back the sass and responded. _What is it?_

 _I can sense you moving around._ A pause, silence on both ends, and then Belmod had to continue again. _Have you finished meditating?_

Because Jiren can walk around and meditate at the same time, yes? He can, the author is just being sarcastic. _Yes._

 _Come here._

 _Why_?

 _Khai has bought something interesting._

 _What is it?_

 _It's some sort of device that he tweaked._ A pause.

Jiren blinked like six times _...But what is it?_

 _You'll see if you come here!_

What if he _didn't_ want to go there- _you know what_ ; Jiren sighed long and deep before teleporting into the same hallway that the room was. _Not_ in front of the door, because he'll take his sweet ass time walking over to where Belmod was.

"...And that is how this thing works."

"If only I were a _scholar_ ," Belmod crossed his arms, "I would've understood 87 percent of what you just said."

" _Well_ , take notes next time." Khai gave Belmod a smirk before turning back to the device. "I haven't found any kind of safe for this ray, I'm pretty sure it is a one time shot and that's it."

"Hmm…" Marcarita placed a finger on her chin. "Do you know how to turn it on?"

"Why yes. I'm pretty sure the charge is toggleable." Khai smirked in his own pride. He knew much about biology, well versed in the ideals of living environment in pretty feasible atmosphere there was, but his tech skills… they kind of lack, just a _wee_ bit.

And _this_ is where he fucked up.

"You press this button," Khai pressed the little green button, "and that turns it on."

 _No that doesn't_ ; the ray gun, once turned on, automatically charges up, and _silently_ at that matter.

"Wow," Cocotte had widened eyes, "So for an entire month, someone can be reduced to a fetus?"

"Yup."

"And that's it?"

"Yup." Khai nodded. "You can marvel at it all you want before I take it back to my realm."

"If you make _any_ sort of mistake with this thing and accidentally shoot anyone of us _in this room_ …" Belmod held a hand up before standing.

"I won't, I won't."

Meanwhile, Jiren had reached a few feet from the right side of the door. He took one step, two steps, and a third, and then listened to what was going on in there.

"That light looks beautiful!" This was Cocotte's voice, he picked that out quickly.

"It looks quite radiant, I must say." Marcarita was next.

"So that's what it look like at rest?" Belmod asked, and Jiren took another step forward. He didn't know that Khai had placed the ray on the table… and it was pointing directly at the door.

"Yes, if I were to press another button then it would start charging up." Khai saw someone's foot behind the outside of the door frame. The purple light on the ray gun's shooting end was getting brighter, _silently._ "Come along, whoever that is."

Jiren could've cursed out loud because his foot gave away his presence. He had a bad feeling about this, and this was the last chance to turn around act like he was across the Universe. But he did reveal himself; while he was moving forward, these bits of dialogue went between Marcarita and Khai.

"Is it supposed to be that bright?"

"I'm certain it is, what makes you say tha-"

Jiren stepped forward and they only got a _glance_ at the cross armed tall individual. He showed himself while Khai was speaking, and the ray gun abruptly shot out, the long stream straight up permeating Jiren right in the lower chest area. The Grey didn't have time to react, he wasn't even facing the others either, but all he could see was this saturated purple haze in his vision. To them, it looked like Jiren was looking all around his body before a meshy purple light enveloped his entire being. To him, he felt this weird sloshy feeling within every muscle in his body before it seeped into his bones. It wasn't painful, it was just feel weird enough to make him slightly grunt at the shakiness of his body.

Cocotte held her hands against her hair. "Oh my god!"

Khai looked on, horrified at the _mistake_ he just made. "Oh no…"

Well, to be fair, he didn't shoot anyone who was _in_ the room. Jiren was _just_ _outside_ of the room, so he gets a plus for that, I guess.

"JIREN!" Belmod shot a hand out and he watched as Jiren's muscular body became this purple transforming mesh right before the door.

And then, everything else to Jiren, went completely black.

But he wasn't unconscious, the purple blob he became shrunk down to the ground, his Pride Trooper suit didn't shrink with him, only his body did. The others stopped, everything froze when the purple hue was gone. The only thing they saw was Jiren's Pride Trooper suit laying on the floor, not him. They all took a step, and then another, and in the ruffled spandex they could make out a tiny bump the size of a small head. The four of them stopped and stared, as the bump started to move and shift its way through the suit.

They all saw a tiny, grey hand reach out of the neck collar, and then another, followed by the actual bump revealing itself to be Jiren's face and he made a tiny, high-pitched sound looking at the four people in front of him. This wasn't big Jiren, or fetus Jiren…

This was _toddler_ Jiren.

It took a moment for everyone to register the fact that the stoic, cold and rebound Grey was now an overly cute, big eyed confused baby. And Cocotte was the first to react by placing two hands to her mouth a dropping to her knees in shock. Marcarita had widened eyes, and Khai looked between everyone to see if they would scowl at him. But Belmod... Belmod jumped and got _super_ elated.

"HE'S A _TODDLER_! OH MY-" Belmod fast walked to the cute little confused Grey toddler. He picked Jiren up from the covers of his suit and held him in the air, looking at those big black eyes. Quick note: Belmod really likes seeing babies. He has a weak side of those little buggers. "Look at him! He's so tiny!" Belmod bounced him with his arms, and toddler Jiren just blinked, still confused, looking everywhere. Belmod smiled up at him, and Jiren blinked twice. "He's so cute! Wait…" His smile was replaced with a frown. "Where are his genitals?"

"Belmod!"

Belmod gave Khai a reassuring look. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just got confused."

Cocotte got really psyched, seeing toddler Jiren made her just… "Lemme hold him, lemme hold him, please! _"_

Belmod moved away from Cocotte. "You must _wait_! Do you know how to hold babies?"

"Lord Belmod, _of course_ I do." Cocotte crossed her arms.

"Well, do you know how to hold _Jiren_?"

Cocotte blinked. "Well, yes, I can hold him like any regular toddler-"

"Jiren is _not_ just a regular toddler!" Belmod shot back defensively. And as he said that, he held the naked Jiren against his chest. "You must hold him with _precision and care_."

Khai shook his head. "Lord Belmod… allow Cocotte to hold him, please."

"Listen." Belmod looked down at little Jiren, who was staring at both men as they spoke. "It's not like I don't _want_ her to hold him. I'm just telling Cocotte that she must treat Jiren with utmost concern."

"Lord Belmod, you're already attached to baby Jiren as is." Marcarita smiled. "Why not admit to it?"

"I-I'm not attached!" Belmod said before looking down at that cute, innocent and pure face again. _By the Gods,_ toddler Jiren is absolutely adorable. He tapped his nose and Jiren scrunched up his face at the feeling, making this cute little pout as he did so…

"Okay, maybe I just _find_ Jiren to be exceedingly cute, but that's just about it!"

Cocotte stepped forward. "Then can I hold him?"

" _No."_ Belmod held toddler Jiren to his shoulder now. The toddler made a tiny sound and reeled back to look at Belmod, and then at Cocotte. "What, you wanna go to her arms now?"

The toddler held both hands against his mouth. Belmod reluctantly sighed and looked at Cocotte while holding Jiren towards her. Cocotte piqued up and went to pick Jiren up, but Belmod still was holding him. "Lord Belmod…"

Belmod looked down at Jiren, already hesitant. "...Wait."

"Let me _hold_ him!" At Cocotte's impatience, Belmod released his hold on Jiren and Cocotte finally was able to embrace and marvel at the tiny, cute toddler. His eyes were bright and naive, and his hands were still on his mouth so it looked like he pleading. "Awww… oh my gosh, he's so adorable…"

"Be _careful_ with him!" Belmod pointed at Cocotte, who did give him a look before nodding and going back to the baby. She held her finger out and swirled it in front of him, watching as he grew entertained at trying to grab it.

Maybe she can just _take him_ right about now…

"Cocotte…" Belmod warned, as if she was hanging this toddler upside down or some shit. Khai shook his head at the possessive God of Destruction.

"Why are you speaking of him like he's your son?"

"He _ought_ to be my son!" Belmod said. "Look at how similar we look!"

"I see no similarities, Lord Belmod." Marcarita quickly pointed out, making the look on his face grow sullen.

"He's still my _soon-to-be,_ Marcarita."

Cocotte turned to the door, she already made up her mind. "Too bad, he's my son now." She sassily said before turning around and leaving the gods alone. Marcarita chuckled to herself while a salty Belmod casted a look at his angel.

"There is _nothing_ funny about this!" Belmod threw his hands in the air. "She just _stole_ Jiren from me!"

"He's not your son, Lord Belmod." Khai frowned. "Besides, Cocotte more than likely knows to take good care of a child. Right now, just allow her to keep a good eye on Jiren."

"Are you implying that I don't know how to take care of an baby?"

" _Do_ you?"

Belmod went silent… it was totally _not_ because he wasn't good at taking _care_ of babies.

"Exactly." Khai nodded, Marcarita giggling in amusement.

"Whatever." Belmod turned around and crossed his arms. "She can have him, _for now_. And then afterwards, I'm getting that toddler back!" Cocotte drove right out of the base with toddler Jiren, now wearing her cardigan, on her lap. One arm was holding him by the stomach to keep him from possibly falling, and the other was on her steering wheel. The ride was mostly quite, minus the tiny noises Jiren would make, but once she had exited, entered her home and went to her room, she placed Jiren on her bed and smiled at him.

"Alright little guy, I called a friend to bring in some nice clothes for you. I don't think you'd like walking in that, don't you?"

Cocotte's cardigan was way too big on Jiren, he basically looked like he was wearing an oversized dress. He flopped his sleeve-covered arms in response to her.

"Ya know what, I'll give you like… I dunno, one of my crop tops. Maybe that will be a decent fit for you for now." Cocotte went to her drawer to look for that one black crop top. She was a slim woman, so the shirt might be a little baggy on Jiren but it would still extend down to his ankles. The sleeves would reach to his lower forearms, and the collar would exposed his tiny shoulders. She grabbed it and went to little Jiren, taking her cardigan off of him and replacing it with her crop top. "This will do for the time being, hun."

Little Jiren looked down at the shirt, feeling the fabric in his tiny hands. Then he held the collar and covered his nose with it, making Cocotte frown. She reached to pull the shirt off his nose but Jiren made a displeased sound, taking the shirt off her grasp and literally held the fabric against his nose, looking like he was sniffing the fabric. Apparently, her shirt smelled good.

She giggled, and picked him off of her bed. She did assume that he could at least walk, he looked like a normal oneish year old baby, and she guessed correctly. Once she put him down on the ground, Jiren looked around the room and started wandering to the left, then to the right, doing this little waddle-like walk that almost all toddlers have. She watched him pretty much go on a brief exploration trip before he return back to her, looking up at the woman with those big giant eyes.

"You think you could sit still and watch something with me?" Cocotte knelt down to pick him up. "I'll put something on for you, I'm sure you'll like it." She headed downstairs with the curious toddler in her arms, she was certain that he couldn't walk down stairs properly. She held the remote in one hand as she sat down with Jiren on her lap, turning it on and putting a viable kids movie that both she and Jiren would like.

There was this colorful show that had caught Jiren's attention. She gave him one of her fluffy pillows at first to sit on, but Jiren took it and held it close to his chest while resting his tiny chin against it. She leaned forward to see Jiren's giant eyes quietly glued to the screen before him.

Somebody kick her, he is flipping adorable.

Apparently, shows and things on TV don't seem to garner much of an interest in Jiren, because somewhere between watching the show he started moving off of her so that he can get off. She placed him down and he took off, with her pillow still in hand, to one of her shelves. At that moment, her doorbell rang. Deciding that Jiren would be perfectly fine since he was near her, she went to answer it.

Her friend gave her a sweet greeting. Gismene was her name, she had her first son several years ago so if anybody needed any baby necessities she would be right there for the calling. In this case, she bought a whole bag of clothes, toys, bibs and pacifiers, along with tiny shoes as well.

She gave Cocotte a sweet smile. "This is for your son."

Cocotte giggled. "Thank you so much, and umm… okay, I know I can entrust you with this but I'm only gonna need these for a month."

Gismene blinked. "Why?"

"Uhh…" Cocotte looked her sides. "Well, one of my Trooper companions was shot with a uhh… A lazer, and it turned them into a… one year old baby."

Gismene blinked again. She paused, before inquiring the same thing that Jiren has a tendency to ask her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fi- look, come in here." She put Gismene into her home, and pointed at the shelf. "See? He's right the-"

No he wasn't.

He wasn't even in the living room. Has she gone mad? Maybe Belmod decided to steal him from her and came in swifter than Orange-Glo, that much could be shown because she still didn't see her pillow.

"Cocotte…" Gismene gave her friend a look. "There is _no one there._ "

Out of nowhere, tiny but fast footsteps can be heard coming out of the kitchen. Toddler Jiren starts running into the living room, holding Cocotte's pillow over his head. He saw the two women, and ran over to them before holding the pillow up to Cocotte with his small but bright smile, big eyes radiant with entertainment.

" _No way…"_ Gismene knelt down to look at this boy, this _Jiren_ , who hadn't reached her knee height yet. Jiren, the _strongest_ hero alive, was now a tiny innocent toddler. "How did _this_ happen?"

She emphasized because nobody can actively catch Jiren off guard, off guard enough to turn him into a _baby_ for that matter.

Cocotte could vouch for her inquiry, this was a _once in a rainbow moon_ occurrence. "...It was an accident."

"But _who did it_?" Gismene had to ask. If this was a villain's doing, then they were all doomed.

She had to lie. "He and I stumbled upon an old ray gun and it shot at him." Cocotte shrugged. "That's all I can say."

Gismene blinked like three times, but took it at face value because… _how the heck…_ "Huh." She looked back down at the patient baby, who was still standing in front of them. She picked Jiren up and smiled brightly. "God, he is adorable."

"He _sure_ is." Cocotte nodded. "He's got a lot of energy, too."

She noted that because Jiren started making kicking notions while being held, all the while making toddlery fighting noises. Gismene and Cocotte both giggled, _well damn, he was born to fight._

"Lemme take him and let him roam around a bit more." Cocotte took her temporary son from Gismene's hands and placed him on the ground. The second she did that, the explorative toddler went running off to wherever and Gismene shook her head.

She couldn't help the smile on her face, he has so much positive energy around him.

"Well, I gotta go. I got two kids to care of." She laughed, looking down at the bag of toddler/baby paraphernalia that Cocotte requested. "Do what you will with those, I'll see you sometime over the week, hun."

"Thank you so much." Cocotte regarded her friend kindly. She hugged Gismene. "Have a good day." Gismene regarded her with a wave before leaving the house and closing Cocotte's door. The Pride Trooper turned around, thinking that she'd find Jiren going up her stairs, but the toddler was seated on her sofa again. This time, he was staring down at something that might be reflective, because he kept turning his head with his eyes on whatever item was in front of him. It was her phone, but her phone was sitting on her kitchen countertop, which is _more than_ two times Jiren's height.

He must've climbed something to get it. This kid is freaking fast.

"Jiren, how did you get that?" As if he would answer that question with his sudden deep voice. At the sound of his name, Jiren turned around. But he smiled, and took the phone in his hands while getting off of her couch. He had to slide down against his stomach because he was too small before making his way around the sofa to face where she was. She thought he was going to hand it over like she did with the pillow.

This toddler went close to her, before cheesing at her and then running off with her phone in his hand.

"Jiren! Hey!" Cocotte quickly realized that this boy was trying to dupe her into getting her phone back. She started laughing because the way he fucking runs, with his tiny legs is just… "Get back here!"

The majority of the day was spent with Jiren in her sights. It was now reaching sunrise, and Cocotte was sleeping in her bed with baby Jiren's head on her stomach. He had fallen asleep a lot earlier than her, but this toddler had been running _everywhere_. She literally never seen him _walk_ from point A to point B this entire day. She had changed him into the appropriate baby-wear that Gismene brought, now he had on a cyan blue onesie with a fluffy hoodie, and when he had fallen asleep Cocotte noticed peculiar in the baby himself.

He had only two toes on each foot.

How the _hell_ does he run so fast with two toes?

Now the female Trooper was sleeping in her room, Jiren soundly against her stomach. There was nobody in this home, as least to her knowledge.

Belmod had read into her ki signature, teleporting right into her house. This was only the first night of Jiren being in Cocotte's possession and here he was, in her room, watching toddler Jiren as he took in tiny breaths. He _Scooby-Doo_ snuck his way from her door to her bed, and reached over to take hold of toddler Jiren…

But unfortunately… her phone went off. Cocotte had accidentally set an alarm for this time and forgot to deactivate it earlier today, so she stirred in her sleep.

 _Meanwhile_ , since Belmod didn't know how phones work, this Destroyer quickly grabbed her phone and was trying desperately to turn this damned alarm off. Instead, he accidentally pressed the volume button which made it louder. Within ten grueling seconds, it had stopped.

Cocotte slowly opened her eyes to where her phone was, looking over to her nightstand and realizing it was empty. She looked around, and then saw _Belmod, holding her phone,_ trying to look as _inconspicuous_ as possible.

"Belmod?" Her sleepy voice filled the room. "Why are you here?"

It was taking her a bit longer to process the obvious, but Belmod thought he could save face. "I found your phone on the street."

He absolutely _sucks_ at saving face.

"My phone has been here the whole time." She sat up, positioning Jiren's head on her lap now. Then, it all clicked; she looked from Jiren, to Belmod and spoke with a hushed whisper. "Did you just _try_ to steal Jiren from me?!"  
"I am making sure that he is _safe!_ " Belmod argued back, whispering angrily now. "He could have fallen off the bed at the angle he is sleeping."

Jiren and Cocotte were actually in the _middle_ of her bed.

"Belmod, he won't _fall_ anywhere." Cocotte straight faced. "And please, keep it down; He sleeping."

Belmod pouted, annoyed at the fact that he failed to do the _simplest_ heist mission possible. Now, he can't just _take_ little Jiren because he's asleep, and he didn't want to perturb that cute face. So what he did was what any disgruntled old man would do when seeing a toddler sleep.

Cocotte watched as Belmod sat on the edge of her bed, still glaring, _still_ crossing his arms. She blinked twice, before Belmod turned his head in her direction. "Go back to sleep."

She frowned, confused at first. "I'm not letting you take him."

"I'm not gonna take him!" The clown God whipped his head around to look at Cocotte. "I'm watching over him and making sure he doesn't get up in the middle of the night."

"But if he were to get up," Cocotte raised a hand, gesturing, "I would wake up from him moving."

" _You don't know that._ " Belmod turned to look at Jiren's sleeping face… how could a baby this adorable grow up to be a strong man? Geez… "Just go to sleep. I won't take Jiren away."

"You sure?" She narrowed her eyes. "Are you going by your word?"

"Yes! Now sleep, dammit."

Belmod did keep his word, he didn't leave her home with baby Jiren at all. Cocotte was able to sleep peacefully until the morning had completely emerged. The sun brightened the room, Cocotte could feel the soft beams against her face. She opened her eyes, and looked out the window into the teal-orange sky of Kanpin. She stretched, and sat up while undoing her bunned hair…

Only to realize that her lap was empty.

Instantly, Cocotte sprung off the bed, ready to go face off with this damn clown God for stealing _her son_. She stomped into the bathroom, readying herself quicker than the speed of sound, and then briskly walked through her hallway.

She heard sound of toddler Jiren's laughter in her living room. She _booked_ down her stairs, thinking that Jiren was all alone, but stopped in her tracks when she saw Belmod laying on her sofa. He was airplaning Jiren, holding him by his sides and making him maneuver around like he was flying.

The Destroyer didn't even realize she was there until like half a minute later. He blinked at her. "Good morning."

Jiren turned his head to look at Cocotte. The toddler made an elated sound at the sight of the woman, whilst she (in her annoyance) smiled back at him before snapping to Belmod. "What are you doing with Jiren?"

"I'm just _playing around_ with him, do you not see that?"

"But I told you not steal him!"

Belmod blinked. "I didn't _steal_ him. I'm still in your house, aren't I?"

Cocotte groaned. " _Fair_ point. How long has he been awake?"

Belmod finally stood up, now situating Jiren against his arm. "Two hours."

"You've been playing around with him for two hours?"

Belmod looked from Cocotte to Jiren. Then he looked back at the Pride Trooper. "Times goes by fast when you're a God, you know."

"It's gonna go by faster because," Cocotte approached Belmod, "I'm afraid you're gonna have to give him back."

Belmod looked from her outstretched hands to his 'son'. He asked the most honest, obvious question he could at this possible. "What do you mean by that?"

Cocotte placed her hands on her hips. "Lord Belmod, you can't stay here forever!"

"It's not going to be forever! This state of his is temporary, _remember_ that."

"But Belmo-"

"Look, do you see how happy he is in my arms?" To emphasize his point, he actually _held_ Jiren out to her just to show the content look on his face. "You know what? Jiren," Now he kept the toddler at his chest while looking at him, "Would you want to stay with _me_ or Cocotte?"

"As if he could even _answer_ that at his age! He's like a year old!" The woman refuted, but watched the toddler's reaction

All Jiren did this whole time was stare at Belmod's red ball nose, and when Belmod voiced the inquiry to him, he reached out to squeeze the ball on Belmod's nose. It actually made a high pitched squeaky sound, and the baby smiled.

" _See?_ " Belmod swung his head back at her. "He squeezed my nose, therefore he likes me, _therefore_ I can take him back to my planet."

"How does _that_ rectify him wanting to be with you?!"

" _Becaaaaaause_ kids like squeaky, high pitched things- okay, okay Jiren, that's-" Now Jiren was busy repeatedly squeezing Belmod's funny nosepiece. It kept making noise as he spoke, and he had to lean away from the toddlers touchy fingers. "That's enough now, please."

Cocotte had to stifle her laughter. "Just… Belmod, do you even know how to take care of a kid? Like, _actually_ take care of one?"

He paused, looked to his right, then to his left. "I can _learn…_ "

"Give him here, dammit!" She swiftly took Jiren from Belmod's arms, of course the Destroyer having faltered a bit into holding him. If he were adamant, Cocotte wouldn't even come _close_ to touching Jiren, and she was right; he kinda didn't know how to take care of a child.

And being a stepfather many, many years ago didn't teach him shit.

"Now go back to your planet, or something." Cocotte held the toddler against her shoulder. "Lemme go and change him into some day clothes."

Belmod blinked like thrice. "...What's day clothes?"

Cocotte slapped her own forehead.

"Oh, shut up!" Belmod crossed his arms and looked away. "Fine, I'll leave. But make sure that Jiren is _safe_ for the next month."

"Oh he _will_ be _."_ Cocotte looked over to Jiren, who was now quiet and speculating the two adults. "I can promise that."

" _Better_ promise that." Belmod snapped his fingers her way, before he had vanished into thin air. Toddler Jiren raised his brows at the magic trick, completely confused as to how Belmod just deleted himself out of this living room.

Cocotte sighed and looked down at Jiren, who looked up at her. He started to wiggle his way out of her arms. "Uh-uh, I gotta change you first, honey. Be patient." Her joking tone made the toddler sit back, Jiren was probably the _best_ toddler out there. He didn't fuss, he didn't cry, all he did was laugh, smile, and grab your things just to make you chase after him. It was cute.

She placed him on her bed when she got upstairs, and pulled out a pair of white pants with a black sweater in his size. She quickly changed him (because this toddler was _way too much_ energy), and took him right back downstairs to let him voyage freely.

Cocotte lowered herself to let him walk around on his own. Once she did that, she _quickly_ went to her phone and grabbed it so that Jiren would not take it. The toddler approached her the very _second_ she started walking a bit farther from him. She was testing him, like she used to when he was all buff and stoic, looking down when Jiren came right up at her.

Geez, those big eyes could kill her with how bright and innocent they are.

"Look, I can't give you my phone."

Toddler Jiren held his hands up with a slight pout.

Cocotte pursed her lips. She _can't_ just give in to that face. "Alright, if I give you my phone, you have to _promise_ not to run away with it." She gestured as she spoke, since a thing she noticed of the toddler was that he was _very_ visually keen. "Okay?"

Jiren lowered his tiny arms and placed them behind his back, as if to show patience. Cocotte knelt down.

"Alright," The more she held her phone out, the brighter his face got, "Here you go." Jiren took the phone in his tiny hands. He turned it around, faced it back to the black screen, and then looked up at Cocotte. "Do _not_ run off with my phone in your hand."

Toddler Jiren honestly had quite a sense of humor, because like she said, he didn't run off with her phone. Instead, he gave her the cheesiest smile he could muster before _walking around_ Cocotte in a circle. The whole time he looked up at her like he expected her to chase him again.

 _I can't with him right now._ "Really now, you're gonna _walk_ away with my phone?"

He turned around and started walking away now. Every ten paces, the boy would turn around to look at her, and he did this three times. At the thirty fifth step he took, he was on the other side of the living room. The toddler decided that the rules he followed were boring as is, and just abruptly ran into the kitchen.

"Jiren, d-" She quickly found herself chasing after him _again_ ; when she reached her mid counter table Jiren was just exiting her kitchen. When she had left her kitchen she found him now carrying her soft pillow, laughing as he ran towards her hallway that would lead to the stairs.

It was at this time that toddler Jiren realized he was at an advantage because he can't climb stairs fast enough. So he opted to do something quite… convenient; he played both the pillow and Cocotte's phone on the second stair before using both his hands and feet to climb up to said stair. All the while, Cocotte had already caught up to him, but she stopped just to laugh at the sight before her. He was sort of intelligent for a one year old.

She grabbed him before he could grasp her phone and pillow again, and then picked him up to blow raspberries on his stomach, making him giggle crazily. She pulled him down to eye level. "Got you!"

She held him by her chest and poked his stomach again, making him laugh. His face would scrunch up whenever he laughed too hard, big eyes would close completely and his cheeks would beam from his smile. Why can't he be like this forever?

Oh right, because the rest of the Universe would be fucked if they lost the strongest man alive.

Cocotte picked up her phone and pillow and returned back into her living room while shaking her head at the testy, quirky child. "Next time, I'm putting this up on the shelf so you won't get it, since you love playing games so much."

He didn't openly object to that by fussing at all, in fact he reached up to squeeze the nose in the same fashion that he did to Belmod. Cocotte furrowed her brows at him and he furrowed his brows at her, seeing that her nose didn't make that sound.

Jiren decided to squeeze her nose, and make the noise himself.

"You're something else, Jiren." She shook her head. "You really are…"

"Have you guys tried to contact Jiren over the past like… Four days?"

Toppo called the two high-tier men of the Trooper group. They were now sitting in the same meeting room that they'd have for giant, intricate missions like escorts and rescues. He, Dyspo, and Kahseral were the only three individuals who would actively call Jiren if a problem were to arise, and if he isn't there. So far, with no avail, the men had not heard word from Jiren at all.

And Belmod didn't tell anyone else about Jiren now being a toddler because… he didn't want an all out war for custody. Cocotte didn't either because she wanted to keep innocent Jiren to herself.

"Yup." Kahseral nodded. "But I think he's probably on some other planet and he left his watch elsewhere."

"Jiren would never leave his watch on a separate planet than he is." Toppo answered. "Even if he doesn't tend to answer calls."

That is true actually. Jiren would keep the watch in the same planet, but not _vicinity_ , of his location. The watch itself would probably be on another continent for that matter.

"Maybe you're worrying too much, Toppo." Dyspo suggested. "Jiren could probably be meditating in a black hole or something. He wouldn't bring his watch there."

"Right." Kahseral agreed. "He's probably doing one of those weeklong sessions, y'know."

Toppo _knew_ , but still. "I can't seem to shake the feeling off that something must have happened to him." That's the problem with having a friend you care about, you seem to _feel_ whenever they in an amiss situation.

" _Toppo."_ Kahseral iterated. "This is _Jiren_ we're talking about here."

"I _know_ that, but still…" Toppo scratched the back of his head. "I still can't shake the feeling."

"Look, Jiren is the strongest guy _alive_." Dyspo said. He shrugged. "He's just doing his solitude thing again, maybe he is, like Kahseral said, doing a weeklong meditation session." He leaned forward with a smile. "C'mon, what can _possibly_ happen to him anyway?"

"You're right." Toppo chuckled. "Perhaps I have been worrying a lot lately. Jiren is indeed capable of taking care of himself." He clasped his hands. "I'm sure he's in good terms now."

And entire three days has elapsed since the first morning Belmod entered her house.

Yes, that was not the _only_ time he had visited. The second time happened yesterday; while she was in her kitchen making supper, he once again enacted his _Scooby Doo_ form and tried to snatch Jiren by surprise. But he got caught, and they argued again, and Jiren squeezed his nose several times.

It was yesterday that she figured out just where Jiren's diet lies, because went she gave him a piece of toast, he pushed it away but wanted to see her flora plant. The toddler took a bud right off the plant itself and placed it into his mouth, which shocked Cocotte because… what baby did she know would eat a _plant_?

She had also found out that Jiren was a very deep sleeper but did not sleep for very long. He didn't do that thing that babies do where they cry early in the morning for a billion unknown reasons, he just _slept_ , woke up, and ran off. When out in her room he tends to stay up a lot later, spending his time climbing up her windowsill and staring at the moon.

Sometimes, he was nocturnal. There were two instances where she couldn't stay up while he was watching the moon set and the sunrise. Big eyes once again were glued to the sky outside as he sat cross legged on her windowsill, and whenever he was done he would climb back down and wake Cocotte up by holding her cheeks and nudging his nose against hers.

Today night, she had out on some old karate movie in her room. Jiren _could not_ hold himself together at the fighting portions; the toddler would slide right off her lap and start reenacting the moves and styles in front of her, Cocotte would watch with glee at how active he was. Then, when the fight was over, he would run right back to her and jump onto her lap while smiling at her.

What the hell happened to him as to where he no longer is _this_ happy?

It was almost sad to think about that, to see such a happy baby boy and to know he would turn out to be a cold, lonely and non-touchy person. Hell, toddler Jiren absolutely _loved_ playing with Cocotte's hair and squeezing her cheeks just like she does to him, yet adult Jiren can't tolerate someone touching his person. She has _never_ seen Jiren smile before, but tiny Jiren hasn't gone one whole hour _without_ smiling.

It was unfortunate. She will miss him being this happy.

Especially when she tickles his ears. Oh god, she did not know that he was ticklish in his ears until tonight, and she watched how his face would scrunch up from the sensation while he laughed. He was so damned cute, but once this month ends, she won't be able to tickle his ears again. Would he still be ticklish in his ears then? She didn't know, and judging from how he really is, she probably will never know.

It was around 2AM when Jiren started falling asleep. It is one of funniest sights you'll ever catch; he would slowly blink and doze off, and his big eyes made it a comical scene. Cocotte had placed him down to change him into a red and black onesie before she could change herself into a loose silk romper-like robe; she had nothing on save for underwear underneath the robe itself, and it was soft to the touch. When she turned around, she noticed that Jiren was still sitting up, looking at her with a tired gaze.

He was waiting for her to finish so that he could lay on her while he sleeps. He really likes that.

Cocotte climbed back into bed, yawning as she took Jiren in her arms. Laying down, the woman placed him over her, his head against her chest, and pulled the blankets over both of them so that it rested just below Jiren's neck. She felt the small breaths that he was taking in, his chest rising and falling slowly.

Cocotte didn't have many thoughts as she drifted off to unconsciousness, all she knew was that she absolutely loved the baby over her person right now.

And she knew that this fact alone would make her appreciate Jiren as a person even more.  
Cocotte moved a little and frowned, the blanket was a bit heavier than she remembered it to be. Luckily enough, Jiren's head rested just below her shoulders and on her chest, so he wouldn't be not breathing air as he slept. She moved her arms to touch the little Grey toddler's head since he was still sleeping, but she didn't feel his head there at all. All she felt was some really hard, toned portion that felt like a back, and she was about to assume something rather optimistic like her touching toddler Jiren's back instead of his little head...

Until she felt a light breath against her neck.

And she realized that she couldn't move her lower body because his waist was between her legs, and her torso and shoulders were stuck because his was against hers as well. Not to mention his arms were outspread in the same fashion as they were when he was a toddler, rendering her forearms immobile too.

This wasn't toddler Jiren.

This was big Jiren.

 _Oh shit._

Her eyes shot open, even though she instinctively did not move even a muscle as to not perturb the sleeping giant on top of her. She got a bit of a chance to access the situation at hand; Jiren had morphed back into his normal, serious self some time over the night while they both were asleep, and now her morning brain was as scattered as a jigsaw puzzle was because his lips were barely touching the nape of her neck. To any woman existing right now, that is _the_ spot, you know _exactly_ what I mean. And here he was, sleeping peacefully like a toddler... Or a former toddler, for that matter.

Cocotte legitimately held her breath; this man was dangerously close to her. And it didn't help as to what outfit she wore to fall asleep; a loose, see through silk romper robe that did her cleavage justice at first, but due to Jiren growing back in size and possibly her moving in her sleep before that matter, she could feel that it was barely keeping her breasts covered, so any small movement would leave one of her exposed.

Her eyes moved to her left, where Jiren's head was. He was a silent sleeper, he didn't make any noise so that was a good thing. That explains why she felt so much more warmer waking up, because this giant muscle man is on top of her. It didn't help the situation at all, she wanted desperately to get out of this.

And no, not because she found it disgusting... Okay look, she didn't want him to wake up and render her dead from embarrassment. _Sleeping with him_ , and Cocotte blushed at her own wording, isn't a bad thing in itself, _as long as he's not awake to know about it._ How the heck was she supposed to get out from underneath him in the first place? She can even bet that if she were to hit him right now he would grab her hand and looked at her with that Jiren face™.

I'm putting the trademark logo on that every time I write it.

Maybe she shouldn't think about that, because what if he reads her thoughts while sleeping and just springs himself up to stare her down and end her with his damn glare? Sure you can't do that while you're unconscious but this is _Jiren_ we're talking about. What if he's actually awake and he's just waiting for her ass to move even a muscle _tissue_?

Why does she think he was going to hurt her over sleeping with her? That wording might have to be changed, it's not good for this context.

If anything, all Jiren would do is give her that disappointment look and _that_ would be enough to end her right there, at this point she should just pretend to be asleep so that he would just up and leave. How was she supposed to look at him normally after this? How was _he_ supposed to look at her normally after this? Imagine if any one of her friends, or _Dyspo's_ dumbass walks into this room at this very moment. Everything about this incident would look so sus, she wouldn't be able to defend herself against it, and everybody would live that up for years.

Yup, Cocotte's face was now an unhealthy flushed hue. _That's not good._

You know what, she will have to take the plunge, she needs to get the heck out of this. She would rather try to somehow slide her way out of this than having him wake up to see this nonsense. Cocotte moved her shoulder up a little bit, and tried to extend her arm horizontally before shifting her body to the right. All she felt was his arm _slightly_ move, and Cocotte froze again in anxiety. That one little movement had her scared out of her lights...

 _Fuck, this is way worse than some scary movie scenario_.

She tried again after like a few minutes of keeping still because she was too scared to move again, and this time it caught his attention. Jiren made an annoyed groaning sound before reaching up to grab her and hold her in place subconsciously, he was still asleep. But it was the same action you'd do if some dickbag tries to take your pillow away while you're sleeping, so you told the sides of it to rectify that.

Those 'sides' of the 'pillow' he was loosely grasping were Cocotte's fucking wrists.

Now there was no way she could fathom getting away, he had her in every quarter possible, and she couldn't move. He continued to snuggle peacefully over her, and she wondered if he actually felt this comfortable and wasn't subconsciously questioning if there was a curvy, more-than-heated female body under him. _If I don't move from this spot, my heart will explode._

Luckily enough, he moved... But _unluckily_ enough, he was stirring in his sleep, and he was going to wake up very soon. Cocotte decided not to move because you know, if she doesn't move then he just won't see her, right?

... _ **Right**_?

Apparently life decided this was _just_ the right time to throw a curveball at her, because her Pride Trooper watch that was just on her nightstand went off. The beeping sound made her flinch slightly, _Shit!_

"Mmm…?" Jiren's sleepy, baritone vibrating _deep ass_ voice stirred in Cocotte's ear, she had to shut this thing off so she don't wake this man up. _Shitshitshitshit-_

"...Hello?" Cocotte kept her voice barely above a whisper, the only thing she could do was answer the call because if she didn't, the thing will ring again.

"'Ey, Cocotte!"

It was _god-damned_ Dyspo.

"H-hey Dyspo." She looked down at her watch, _for fuck's sake_. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good, man uhh…" A pause on the other hand. "Did you just wake up?"

"Well, yeah." her voice was very, very low.

"Ohhh." Dyspo nodded. "Are you sick?"

"Huh?"

"Your voice sounds a little hoarse."

If she weren't too busy staying the heck still and keeping her voice down, her face would have been a deep shade of red after he said that.

"Well, hehe," she held her nervous chuckle, "I've been hanging out with a few friends."

"What, another karaoke night?"

" _Mayyybe_." She smiled, this was going… very well.

"With who?"

 _Shit_. "Ya know, with a few of my girl friends."

"Uh huh." Dyspo nodded. "You sure there wasn't no _man_ in that circle?"

"Heck no." She gave her watch a look. "What is it with you trying to _un_ -single me?"

"Why not?" Dyspo shrugged. "Speaking of which, Toppo has been a little irked about something lately; have you contacted Jiren lately?"

Oh no, no no _no_ here's where everything _hits_ the fan. The heck did he mean by _speaking of which?_ "U-umm no, why?"

"Toppo had called him many times over the course of like six days, and he hasn't responded." Dyspo leaned in his chair. "Maybe he's probably in a black hole again."

"Yeah… maybe." Cocotte nodded quickly, and _accidentally_. "Maybe he i-"

Jiren groaned in annoyance. All his left ear could pick up was the sound of Cocotte's quite, hoarse-esque tone. Cocotte froze on the spot.

Dyspo frowned on the other end. "...What was that?"

She blinked, feigning cluelessness. "What was what?"

Again, Jiren made a grunt noise, a bit louder this time. In his sleeping stature, he started reaching out in the general direction of Cocotte's watch. It made contact with the mic portion of it and Cocotte pulled her watch away from his hand. To Dyspo, it sounded like a clunk noise just randomly emitted after the low pitched grunt noise.

" _That_." Dyspo reiterated. "Cocotte... who's in there with you?"

 _How the fuck did he figure out this was a perso-_ "Nobody, it's just a dog I got recently and she's sleeping. I've been quiet because of her."

"That's a _man_ over there." Dyspo smirked. "You've been throwing down some _business,_ Cocotte?"

Instantly, she got heated. "N-no I wasn't! It's not what you thi-"

Cocotte felt two fingers gently press against her lips, and they _were not hers_.

She stayed completely still, she felt his head turn but he didn't lift it up nor did he open his eyes. Jiren sure as hell, was half-awake.

"Keep your voice down."

His stern, firm baritone timbre rumbled in her ear. He wasn't awake enough to realize where he was, but the loudness of her voice (which was loud whispering) had annoyed him. Dyspo was silent, eerily silent on her watch, and Jiren had revert back to being asleep.

"Oh… my… _shit_ …" Dyspo could _drop_ his watch if it weren't attached to his wrist. "JIREN IS SLEEPING WITH YOU?!"

 _Now_ she got flustered, but she was _just_ told to shush. "I-I-"

Dyspo laughed real loud on the other end for a long time, and she had to pull the watch away from her and Jiren so the Grey wouldn't get pissed enough to fully wake up. When he had wiped his tears, the hare came right back shaking his head. "I can see why your voice is hoarse this morning."

Okay _no_ , she's not gonna lay here and let him say that. At _all_. "No, _you_ listen to me! This is _not_ what you think it is, trust me! Just because Jiren is here doesn't mean we did the _things_ , maybe he's just chilling right by my windowsill, or maybe he's sitting by my chair. Don't get so caught up in the idea of me and him being a thing because that's not gonna hap-"

Her call got cut off. Dyspo was left in utter confusion at the sudden muting of the call. He wasn't the one who ended it, Jiren had sluggishly raised his arm and pressed the end call button on her watch. _Now_ Cocotte was fucked, _now_ she had no other choice but to become a statue because she was going to die this morning.

And the weather is absolutely beautiful today, too.

Jiren shifted, his hands moved and his eyes opened slowly as he took a deep breath while propping himself up. As he did so, his eyes were closed because he was blinking, but when he did prop himself up, the first thing he saw were a pair of barely covered breasts in front of him.

This was the first time Cocotte saw him _react_ to something. Jiren had a confused frown on his face, then he blinked twice, and then he looked up to see who the owner of them were. Cocotte had lowered her hands against the very edges of her pillow, and she looked at him with pursed lips, and a very reddened face.

"Go-good morning, Jiren."

Jiren too looked like he was trying to assess the situation at hand, but he seemed to be handling it better than she was. "Hello..." Was all he said for the moment. He looked down at her chest, then back at her face, he didn't even look phased at her exposition at all, he just gave her a neutral expression. "How did I end up here?"

Simple ass question, but Cocotte's Ruby Rose face ass was still frazzled at the fact that this was actually friggin happening. She answered as honestly as she could... And as coherently as she can manage to. "Umm... You were a toddler like yesterday night."

Already, Jiren had a furrowed brow, but he did nod because he recalled the feeling of being zapped by that weird ray gun. He didn't know that he was turned into a... A _toddler_.

Cocotte continued. "I took you to my place because no one else would, they kinda thought you would blow up their house or something despite being so little." _That_ part was a lie; she took him in because he was too cute to not be in her presence 24/7. He didn't need to know that. "So long story short, I put you on top... Of me last night... To sleep and since you were tiny it was perfectly fine and umm... Overnight, you became... Big."

Jiren blinked like six times during that whole explanation, and _every_ blink got progressively slower. " _What_?"

"Y-yeah, that happened. I'm serious, it was… the last few days were long." She looked downwards.

This was by far one of the most ridiculous things he's ever heard, but it held _some_ semblance of merit. He can't deny her claim because that would mean she somehow had the ability to put him on her like this while he was still in his adult body, which is impossible. Even if she used her dimensional powers, he would just slide right through her little bubble even if he were asleep. And catching him asleep for that matter is very rare, he meditates in the place of that almost all the time, but it's not something he hasn't done before.

"Hmm." That's it, that was all he had to say to her detailed explanation. He tilted his head slightly because of the facial expression she adorned. "Why do you look like that?"

"H-huh?" Cocotte looked back at him, she was in the midst of bringing her arms down to at least fix her romper and then she froze at his question. "Look like what?"

"That."

The sarcastic side of her would've went ' _very descriptive_ ', but she knew what he was talking about. "It's because yo-you're on top of me and, and umm..." She averted her gaze, and then realized something _very peculiar_. It made her even more flustered. "Y-you're not wearing anything anymore."

"Why didn't you move?"

He just made it sound like he was some regular ass dude she could easily slip past. How was she supposed to answer that without saying _you're strong as fuck_? "B-because I didn't wanna wake you up." He still held the frown on his face. "And because you straddled me with your hands, so I couldn't move from your grasp."

"My hands weren't grasping your wrists." Jiren said, and he was partially right. He didn't even _have_ a grip on her at all.

" _Yeah_ , but I didn't wanna wake you up!" Cocotte craned her neck forward before let it fall back against the pillow. " And besides, if I move any further my... My romper would fall off and if you woke up then, you would... See things."

He blinked. "What things?"

Is he playing right now? "My breasts, that's what!"

He looked down, and Cocotte could swear that if this was any other man they would have had some semblance of a smile on their face, but not Jiren. He didn't look at it like some sexual or attractive asset, he just looked at them like... Like yeah, they're _there_ and that's _it_. That made Cocotte's face get even redder, because he just had his big ass black-grey eyes on them. He can't be doing all that; what if he burns her chest open from staring at her tits too hard?

 _What the fuck_ was she thinking about?

"Can you stop staring at them, please?"

He didn't even look down for more than two seconds before Cocotte had to pick herself up to say that. "Fix it if it bothers you."

"Fix what?"

"Your attire." He was relaying that as a solution to her problems. _Ahem_.

"Jiren." She said with a straight face, but taking what he said to heed and actually pulling her romper and tying it against her waist firmly this time. "I dunno if you understand this or not, but when a man just _stares_ at my boobs, I get really upset, because they might get the wrong idea, so... don't do that or I'll get really upset."

Jiren was looking dead at her. "You're not upset right now."

Cocotte almost stammered, suddenly getting the pride in her to sit up slightly. "Then what am I, _hmm_?!"

"You're abashed."

Cocotte sunk back down, he's fucking right. "... But… but still!"

Jiren frowned. "You're acting like I'm going to do something to you."

Cocotte's face could explode right now, because she has a bit of a dirty mind and umm... Does he find entertainment in this?! Maybe underneath that straight face, he's laughing and rolling in his head right now. "Look, you're naked right now!"

Jiren looked down at himself. He was still on top of her, all she could see was his chest down to his lower abdomen, just to the middle of his V-line. _Good god_ … He looked back up at her and shrugged.

" _Jiren_." She emphasized. "It's not _cool_ to be naked in front of a woman."

"Why was I naked?"

"You outgrew your baby clothes! Now get off of me!" Cocotte said, before shrinking back under the cross look he gave her. "I'm sorry…"

He closed his eyes before rolling off of her person. The blanket was still on him, covering him from the waist down, so his upper body was fully exposed to the sun rays in her room. He was now reclined on her bed with both hands behind his head while looking outside. All Cocotte could do was stare at that sculpted body; every muscle and its crevices looked like they were hand-crafted by the gods themselves, the artisan suture of perfection. His physique looked absolutely amazing, so much so that one would want to touch it to see if it's real.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Cocotte shook out of her trance, and sassed at him. "Why are you on my bed?" Jiren blinked at her, and then grabbed the blanket to toss it off and leave her bed. The woman held his arm, quickly redialling on her question. "Don't leave."

Jiren frowned at her. "Why?"

He was like a damn child, always asking _why_ this and _why_ that, god dammit. "You're _naked_. Are you not a bit embarrassed?"

"I would not care if you were to look at me had I not have no clothes on."

Cocotte went wide eyed, incredulous. "...Really?" Jiren nodded. "How are you not…"

"There is no reason to be."

If only he could grace her room with that space booty, which Cocotte luckily has not seen because she'd probably die. "You wouldn't feel embarrassed being naked in front of me?"

Jiren shook his head.

"Oh…" Cocotte looked down, and Jiren went back to looking out her window. She wondered _why the heck he was still here_ ; shouldn't he have phased himself out of her _whole_ planet after this? Maybe the view from her window was that beautiful, which she had to admit it definitely was an eyecatcher.

Maybe her bed was so comfortable to him, but he didn't want to openly admit it.

She looked back at him again, the ghost of that smiley, cherubic baby face flourished itself into her mind again. Her hands involuntarily folded together slowly, she felt the need to break the silence since her house hasn't been this tense in Jiren's presence.

Well, in his _baby-presence_ , that is.

"Do you like florae?"

Jiren furrowed a brow and turned his head to her. "...Yes."

He said that in a slight intone, because he didn't remember telling Cocotte this. Cocotte on the other hand leaned forward. "Do you want me to give you some?"

Jiren gave her a long blink. "I'm not a child anymore, Cocotte."

"I know, but like… are you hungry?" Cocotte asked. Again, Jiren blinked. "Look you don't have to _hide_ that you like eating plants. I already fed you when you were a toddler."

"I'm not trying to hide it," Jiren shrugged, crossing his arms, "I am simply just not hungry."

"Yes you are." Cocotte placed her hands on her hips. Jiren gave her a look. "You see how grumpy you are right now? You are hungry, I'm going to get more florae."

Before Jiren could even attempt to tell her otherwise, she got up and left her own room to travel downstairs. The Grey took a moment to look round the room, then he looked down at the large, soft bed itself. He noticed a small fabric underneath where Cocotte once was, he lifted it up to see ripped pieces of a black sweater and white pants meant for a child.

This was obviously the clothing that he wore when he was tiny, presumably. That adds to the validity of Cocotte's story, he had no reason to not believe her now, how else could something _get_ him like that?

Jiren stood up from her bed, the blanket sliding off his waist and legs, and he went to her windowsill to look down. This was planet Kanpin; he was here before he got zapped, meditating on the rooftop of Kanpin's PT base in _peace_ , but now he was in Cocotte's bedroom in peace, technically.

And naked. He wasn't wearing _anything_.

It didn't phase him either, but he knew better than to allow his impartiality get to him in someone else's home. He looked over to the nearest article of fabric to wear, since apparently if Cocotte saw his ass her face would implode on sight.

If Jiren were Zoiray or someone else, he'd be cackling right now.

He grabbed a periwinkle colored towel from her door hanger on the other end of the room, taking it and wrapping it around his waist still keeping his roided upper body exposed. He tucked in the edges and turned before something else caught his eye. Apparently, the toddler version of him was allotted a few markers and crayons along with a few sheets of paper to draw with. He knelt down to pick up one of the papers.

The younger version of him, the jejune and ignorant version of him, had an affinity for visual keenness. Such was apprised in his race, since the majority of them were genius architects. There was a huge divide between them though, and it stemmed from the psychology of their species; one side was known for creative upbringings like music, dance and art, while the other side was systematic, strict, and for the most part, apathetic to expression. Jiren was a member of the latter. The picture before him was a very bad, but impressive drawing for a one year old; he could make it out faintly, it was a drawing of a purple sky with a brown ground. The big, floppy circle in the middle with black circles in it was supposed to be a hut, and there were two individuals with smiley faces that stood right outside. He indicated those faces cleary; those were his respective parents.

That was… many, many years ago. It felt like another lifetime.

He took the picture, keeping it in hand as he looked at the other one. This one was a giant smiling face with a bunch of spikes coming off of it and it was blue. It was supposed to be, what he can relate it to, as a blue sun. The planet he was born on… had a blue sun.

The third picture was a poorly drawn oval. It was green with an outline around it. This was the pendant that Jiren used to wear a lot, especially with that brown, old ragged hoodie he would wear very often. But he lost that pendant very early on in his life and adventures. He almost… forgot about its existence until now.

He let the picture linger on as he placed it against his left thigh and took the last picture, this one was rather obscure, and it took him a bit of digging into his suppressed memories to comprehend what it was. But when he came up the thought, it hit him pretty quickly as to what it was; it was the view from a tall elevator when his father took him out to a considerably urban place within the planet (compared to his village, even a rural neighborhood was considered urban). Of course, the drawing wasn't that good but he remembered what the view looked like; it showed hundreds of meters of terrains and valleys and houses, and would ascend up at a quick, almost _scary_ pace. He remember how _intimidating_ this view looked, he remembered staring at it intently trying to figure out how this magical contraption could even exist, he remembered grasping his father's sleeve a little tighter whenever he would look down the glass floor…

He took every single piece of paper into one hand and folded them all at once before walking to a trashbin and throwing them all out.

Cocotte had returned with a handful of florae in her hand. "Okaaay, so I went outside to get more a ap-w-what are you doing with that on?"

She was pointing at the towel around his waist. He looked down, then looked back up. "I figured it would be more appropriate to adorn this."

"But that's my towel."

Jiren blinked. "Would you rather I take it off?"

He's innocent, he's an innocent man you guys, he didn't mean that in a dirty way. "N-no! Keep it on but like… I don't even know, your clothes aren't even here." She sighed to herself. "Here, I bought these for you."

"I told you already," he took a few steps towards her, "I am not hungry-"

" _Eat_."

He blinked at her, he could see she was avoiding her gaze from his torso. Cocotte continued.

"At least eat like one of these, you're all grumpy this morning."

Jiren took one of them out of her hand. He sat down on her bed again, inspecting the bud between his fingertips. "Where did you find these?"

"In my garden."

" _No_ , I mean," he pointed at the flora bud itself, " _Where_ does this plant originate from?"

"Ohhh." Cocotte nodded. "It was from like, underwater or something." She plopped onto her bed and placed the buds on her nightstand. "Why, do you travel underwater to eat this stuff?"

Why was she asking questions about this? "Yes." Jiren nodded.

"So you can swim?"

Jiren nodded.

Cocotte nodded, she looked up at him curiously. "Did your parents teach you how to swim?"

Now Cocotte must have saw the pictures he grew and identified the individuals as their parents. Either that, or she assumed that from what he ate. The bud was still in his hand, though. "It is an innate skill my species has, since our nourishment mostly thrives underwater."

She raised her eyebrows. Jiren took to actually eating the bud, he placed the whole thing in his mouth and chewed silently. Toddler Jiren needed to take little bites because his mouth was too small, he would look cute all the while eating. "Wow… so they would swim with you?"

She caught how Jiren looked elsewhere, as if not wanting to address that question. Cocotte looked a little sullen at this, _maybe bringing up his parents makes him sad._

"They didn't know how to swim."

She almost jumped at the sound of his voice, not expecting him to answer. He wasn't looking at her anymore, his gaze was on the ground and his arms were crossed. There was silence between the two, and Jiren inhaled. "They weren't my biological parents."

Cocotte frowned. "So you were an orphan?"

He shrugged.

"What happened to your actual parents?"

A pause. "They left."

She furrowed a brow. "...Left?"

"They perished before they could see me born." Jiren said.

"So… your foster parents took you in and raised you…" And to think that this happened to such a young and bubbly individual. Toddler Jiren looked like a kid with no impending burdens, to find out that his parents were killed was probably something that tore him to piece as a child. "And did your dad train you while you growing up?"

"They left too."

Here's where Cocotte's face takes a turn to shock. So his _foster_ parents died too?! "So… so you who trained you?"

"My master." Jiren's arms crossed a bit tighter. "He had found me and took me in, waiting for me to grow up until he could finally teach me."

He didn't show any remorse in his voice or face, the only way she could pinpoint the unreadable emotion he was going through was through the way he would pause when talking about his past. "He's a nice guy for doing that." Cocotte smiled. "I'm sure he was a great teacher too."

"He had weaknesses." Jiren said. "He was strong but he felt too much. That led him to his demise."

 _Again_ , first his biological parents, then his fosters, _now_ his master died too? Did Jiren just live the life of death itself. "D-did he die of old age?"

Jiren's eyes flickered to her general direction, but he didn't look up at her. "No." The tone he used showed that he didn't want to go into detail with that part of his life, or what happened _after_ it. Those were his memories to hold, no one else's.

"But he cared for you, otherwise you wouldn't have learned how to fight."

Jiren turned his head away from her, not accepting that idea. Yes he did care for him, but it was his _caring for Jiren of all people_ that led him to die. That's what made everyone die around him. Cocotte could see that there was more to this that she didn't understand, but she could also see that he had such a heavy past. The contrast between his oblivious toddlery self to now was too great.

Makes you remember that the villains and heroes of our time were once happy, naive children who didn't know any better. It was only unfortunate that Jiren ended up seeing life in its rawest, most gruesome nature.

Jiren didn't even look at her. He had his arms crossed as he looked down at the ground. Cocotte decided to he needed something, he looked too cold over there just staring astray.

The Grey heard shuffling on her side, but did _not_ expect to feel two arms wrap around his neck. He shied away from the movement before realizing she was… hugging him.

But why?

"What are you doing?"

His deep voice was in her ear again, this time it didn't make her blush. "You need a hug."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do." Coco lifted her head off of his shoulders to look at him. He had the _blankest_ confused expression on his face. Is that even possible?

"Release me." Jiren said, making no attempt to move her off of him. Her body was warm. "This will not help with anything."

"It will make you _warmer_ , dammit." Cocotte smiled at him. "You need it. Don't sit here and complain, lemme hug you."

So Cocotte went on with hugging him. It was pretty comical to see a stubborn, cross-armed straight faced Grey male being swayed left and right by a woman hugging him. "You don't need to move so much while embracing me."

"It adds to the comfort." Cocotte hugged him tighter, and this was where held her upper arms to keep her from… comforting him too much?

"This isn't comforting."

"Alright _fine_ , Mr. _Sto-and-Cold_." Cocotte released him and crossed her arms. "You weren't all stubborn and shit when you were a toddler."

"... Because I changed." Jiren gave her the most obvious question possible. "I am not to stay the same way as I was as a ch-"

Jiren quickly jerked his head away from Cocotte, because she started reaching his ear. The woman quickly objected. "What?"

" _Don't do that_."

"There was some… pillow lint your ear, I was trying to get it out." No there's wasn't. Cocotte was lying.

"There is nothing in my ear."

"Well _how do you know_?" Cocotte sassed him, placing her hands against her hips. Jiren straight faced, having to once again state the obvious.

"I can feel when something is in my ear." Then he frowned. "Why _are_ you trying to touch my ear?"

"Be _cause_ there's stuff in it!" Cocotte reached forward again, but Jiren grabbed her by the wrist. She froze.

"Do not touch my ears." He pushed her hand back. "Ever."

"Why? Is there a weakness that you're afraid of me exploiting?" She sneered. "Besides, I already know that you're ticklish in your ears anyway-"

"No I'm not."

That was a _quick_ response, Jiren usually doesn't cut people off. " _Really_? Why don't I test it then?"

"If you come near me, I will-"

Too late, she already hopped right in front of him. "What will you do, eh Jiren? C'mon, let me prove you _wrong_." Her finger only ran a _centimeter_ around the edge of his ear. Jiren literally _tensed_ so quickly, that she pulled her hand away thinking he was gonna have a muscle spasm or something. "Are you okay?"

"I told you _not_ to touch me." Jiren, annoyed as hell, shifted away from Cocotte's general direction.

"So you are ticklish there!" Cocotte was now _set on_ tickling him. She leaned forward, making Jiren lean back with a _what the fuck is wrong with you_ face. She _pounced_ on him with an evil laugh, all the while trying to reach for his ears while Jiren was holding her arms back.

Albeit weakly because… if he didn't dial down his strength, he'd probably dislocate her arms by accident.

"Let me _tickle_ you!"

Jiren shook his head; who _does_ this? "I will not let you touch me." He remained mostly calm even though she was nigh-thrashing on top of him which… wasn't good because this was _too much_ contact on his behalf, and because of something else. "Cocotte-"

"You're not getting away with this!" She kept leaning forward, as if Jiren couldn't obviously throw her out her own window within a nanosecond. Jiren's attention was focused elsewhere.

" _Cocotte._ " He said again with a bit more emphasis, grounding his grasp on her arms. "Stop moving so much."

"If I stop," Cocotte kept trying to reach forward, "I won't get to tickle you."

"But _stop it_!"

" _WHY-_ " She kept wiggling against his grasp, only to shortly feel some breeze against her chest area… meaning that the romper she was wearing had undone itself from her movements…

Meaning that Jiren's eyes were now assaulted with… with her breasts.

Cocotte backed away so rapidly that she _fell_ off of her own bed clutching her chest. She had doubled over on the ground, her legs went up in the air before they feel to the floor, her face now facing the carpet surface. Speaking of her face, her cheeks were _red_ again, she looked up at her bed and swung herself away from Jiren, hastily tying her silk romper again.

Jiren didn't show any kind of embarrassment. He just shook his head. "That is what you get for trying to tickle me."

Oh, _now_ he decides to be petty. Cocotte didn't have any rebuttal sitting ready for him, so she took to throwing her pillow at him, which happened to fall right next to her as she previously tumbled. Jiren had effortlessly dodged it however, aking Cocotte scowl at him.

"You think you could be all _cool_ , doding my pillows and shit!" After tying her romper, she hastily went to her dresser to get an oversized shirt. Cocotte quickly put it down, while Jiren watched with a confused expression, he didn't understand what she was being so hasty for…

Until she stomped back to her bed, grabbed a bigger pillow, and started trying to hit him with it.

Jiren dodged at first before Cocotte started getting more erratic, so he had to raise his arm to keep her from hitting him. "Why are you so upset?"

Jiren dipped from her bed, and Cocotte pouted at him. "You deserve it."

He blinked, holding the towel around his waist. "For what?"

"For being a dick."

"You tried to touch my ears." Jiren iterated. "Twice."

"And?"

"It is not my fault for your faulty wardrobe."

He was right, but she still wants to fuck with him. "You kept holding me back."

"I _don't_ want you to touch my ears."

"Because you're _ticklish_ , right?"

" _No_."

She threw a pillow at him, which he swiftly caught with one hand. Cocotte was on her way to going for another pillow, but she flinched when Jiren raised his arm, as if he was going to throw it back at her.

Y'all don't understand, do you see how _beefy_ Jiren's arms are? If he throws a pillow at someone, he'll _slice_ their head off, and pillows aren't even sharp.

He did it again, and Cocotte flinched a second time before groaning. "Quit scaring me!"

"If you throw this at me, I'll throw it back at you." Jiren had a straight face, it wasn't reasonable for him to stay here especially because of his bored expression. Maybe he was finding entertainment in all of this, which is why Cocotte is still trying to fight him with pillows. She threw another one at him and he caught _that_ with one hand as well, and then started to quickly approach her.

Cocotte fearfully squealed as his shadow overcame her petite body. She coiled up into the safe ball to keep herself from the impending assault; his facial expression expression ment business, he was probably going to pummel her into the _first floor_ with the two pillows in hands. She prepared herself for the worst, closing her eyes tightly and looking away as Jiren raised an arm with a pillow in his hand. He didn't swing it down to hit her, he didn't pound her into her bedboard…

He just raised his arm like a crane, and then _dropped_ the pillow on Cocotte's person.

Jiren watched as Cocotte screamed from the contact before realizing that he didn't even _hit her with the damn pillow._ "Oh for fuck's sake, you're such an asshole."

Maybe if she wasn't busy being needlessly afraid, she would have caught the smirk on his face.

"I have no reason to hit you with a pillow." Jiren shrugged. "This was effective enough."

Cocotte stood up on her own bed to look taller than him. Her lime green eyes glowered with superiority. " _It didn't even hurt._ "

He bopped her side with the second pillow she forgot about, making her fall back against her bed. She made a squeal noise as she fell, and Jiren tossed the pillow back on the bed. The woman exhaled as Jiren went around her bed and towards her nightstand, she looked up to see Jiren with a flora bud in his hand.

He blinked down at her. "What?"

Really, he just violated her existence, and has the nerve to just _eat_? _Ugh…_

"You know what; fuck all that," She fixed her free hair, tucking it under her ear, "You can _leave_ now. I don't want you here anymore."

"You're lying."

 _God shit,_ she was. "Okay, _so_?" She looked downwards, being stubborn with her choice of words. After a long pause, with Jiren eating the entire bud, she looked back up at him. "...Wanna watch something?"

Jiren gave her a long blink. He looked down at the two buds on her nightstand, it surprisingly didn't take long for him to come to a decision. Cocotte, thinking that he would outright decline it despite saying she doesn't need him here, was more than elated when Jiren wordlessly gave her his means to approval.

A simple, impartial, _detailed_ shrug of his shoulders.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Protective Belmod is best Belmod.**

 **I always have a feeling that Jiren** **before everybody he knew died** **was** _ **supposed**_ **to be this bubbly, happy kid who's always playful. It just serves to add into the depressing realization that he's not even** _ **close**_ **to that anymore.**

 **Geez.**

 **So yeah, there is a hiatus here. I can only fully focus on one or** _ **no**_ **stories right now, things have been tight lately. Meanwhile, because of consequentiality, Unfair Punishment will continue to be updated on for the time being.**

 **But there's one thing I wanna bring up; I am** _ **happy**_ **to see more memes of these Troopers being silly heroes lmao. I remember like five or something months ago there wasn't** _ **shit**_ **on these guys and now there are a bunch of funny shits on them. They deserve it despite being mostly vacant in the actual show, huehue.**

 **And another thing, I've been debating this also vicariously through someone else's suggestion, I might start a . Ya know, like, to write original shit since I'm sure I'll get sued up the ass if I monetize any form of fanfiction there. I don't wanna tamper with that since it's a fairly new site, but uhh… if I do go under way with that idea, I'll be sure to include a link to it.**

 **Anyway *sighs*... I depart, for now. Hope you all hath enjoyed the past** _ **twenty chapters of shitpost**_ **these five months, I promise there will be more in the future.**


	21. A Perpetual Plan

_**Return of the Mac…**_

 **o, back with a** _ **big ass update**_ **and… I said there** _ **would**_ **be an update in five days… three days ago. This was early and unexpected, but I like sneak attacks.**

 **Zoiray** **'s childhood best** **friend fi** **nally comes to visit** **, but they both need to come to terms with how they feel with one another…And that's exactly why Dyspo, Toppo, Kunshi, Jiren** **, Cocotte** **and Vuon are gonna help him with that.**

 **On a far, far side note: I'm not even lying to you all; I have** _ **no experience**_ **in this crush department. Never have I ever developed a crush on someone and it sounds like bluffing (is that bluffing? Idek but I'm being srs), so I looked up a bunch of memes on this crush shit. Lmao gg.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **A Perpetual Plan...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

It was a night at Netfiss, a relatively calm one at that. All of the Pride Troopers were either in a bed sleeping, in a planet sitting, or walking through Netfiss' main base.

In the case of Dyspo, he wanted to check on behalf of Toppo's record keeping room, just in case if anything hadn't popped up outside of their knowledge. Toppo had only went to bed half an hour ago, but it was nice to double check for the leader. Also, Dyspo was practically bored and had nothing else to do or talk about.

That was, until Dyspo walked past a certain room with a _certain_ someone speaking on the phone. At first he dismissed it, but then he stopped in his tracks when he heard some… unexpected words from the sassy short guy, things like 'sweetie' and 'pretty' and other affectionate sayings and phrases.

Dyspo took a few steps back, and leaned all the way back right in front of the room, looking Zoiray up and down as he spoke on the phone.

His back was turned to the open door, so he didn't catch the hare on sight. "Uh-huh… yeah, I'm sure you can hold yourself to it…" Zoiray smiled, even though their conversation was about to end. "Alright, see you later, hun…"

 _Hun?_ Dyspo's eyes went speculatively wide.

"Bye bye." Zoiray even waved as if the person was right in front of him. He stood up from his seat and ended the call while turning around, now Dyspo can see the big beaming smile on his face.

And his peeping-tom ass loved it. "So who was that on the phone?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake…" Zoiray didn't even look up to know who that was, and his reaction was classical. He rolled his eyes and allowed his hand to slap against his hip.

Dyspo took one step into the room, and Zoiray acted like he didn't just rapidly slide his phone into his pants pocket. "I've never heard you talk all sweet like that, not to mention calling someone things like 'sweetie', and 'honey'." The hare crossed his arms.

Zoiray chose to pick on Dyspo infringing his privacy because he's not answering that damn question yet. _Nope._ "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on conversations, Dyspo."

"But who was that though?"

"You don't need to know."

"It was someone important wasn't it?" The hare made himself quite comfortable on one of the bean bag chairs. He rested both his palms against the back on his head and he reclined into the seat. "You got a girlfriend?"

"No!" Zoiray placed both hands on his hips. "I'm not spilling."

"Why not?"

Zoiray plopped down on the chair adjacent to Dyspo. Keep in mind, by 'plop' he had to hop up to sit down. "I'd rather you don't know anything about them."

"I already know that it isn't your girlfriend."

The smaller Trooper rolled his eyes, and he sank back into the chair in retaliation. Not only was Dyspo being as smartassed as he was, but this was a topic he'd rather have away from Dyspo's ears, even though that is… practically impossible. He gave in. " _Fine…_ it's someone I've known for a while."

" _Ooooooooo-"_

" _Quit it."_

"Sorry." Dyspo visibly cocked his neck back, and Zoiray waved a dismissive hand, almost apologetically. That's… strange, Zoiray is one of those people who never _apologize_. "But who is it?"

"A friend." Was Zoiray's quick ass reply. "What, you want me to give you their whole identity or something?"

"Well _n_ o but," Dyspo leaned forward, "You can't be just friends with someone and call them things like 'honey', 'sweetheart' and… what was that other one?" Dyspo scratched his chin in pseudo-thought. " _Shortcake?"_

"Oh my fu-you really dug your ears in on this one, didn't you?" Zoiray rolled his eyes, again. "It _is_ just a friend. I knew her for a long time."

"How long?"

"Almost childhood friends." Zoiray said, almost in retrospect. "She and I knew each other through school. I still keep contact with her even though she's practically millions of miles away."

"Wow…" Dyspo mulled over that, _these two have been in contact for that long?_ "What planet does she live in?"

Zoiray didn't even need to think on behalf of that. "Kanpin."

Dyspo blinked slowly. "You said millions of miles… Kanpin is on another _solar system_."

Zoiray placed his hand on his hips. " _Still_ millions of miles, whatever. Doesn't feel that far."

"I can tell, if you two can talk with each other for so long." Dyspo chuckled a bit. "So she's coming over?"

"She plans on staying in Netifiss. I might visit her soon."

" _Might_?"

"Okay, _will_. I haven't seen her in ages." Zoiray almost looked like he was fidgeting. This was new.

"So you guys are gonna plan out a date or something?" Dyspo asked, and he was immediately hit with a sassed look.

"I told you, we're just friends!"

" _Just friends,_ bullshit. You like this girl." Dyspo leaned back. "It's obvious; you can't stay a day without talking to her and every time you do, you get all smiley and giddy. Just admit it."

"No."

Time for some sweet wordplay. "That counts as you admitting it."

Zoiray frowned. "How?"

"If I ask you to admit something is true and you say no, that means what I said is true; it's just that you don't wanna say that you like her." Dyspo smirked.

There was a groan on the other end, because Zoiray was quite fed up with Dyspo's prying right now. "So what if I do?"

Dyspo blinked. Well, that was _quick_ ; he was expecting Zoiray to just walk out of the room. "You said you two were friends?" A reluctant nod. "Then why not ask her out?"

Zoiray mumbled something and looked away from Dyspo. The small, yet proud and sassy Trooper did _not_ want to look Dyspo in the eyes; yes, Dyspo was marginally older than him and it's obvious that the hare probably has more... _sauce_ when it comes to dating. Amidst that bravado, amidst the boldness he displays, there was one thing Zoiray can't admit without feeling hot in his cheeks.

"Zoiray?" Dyspo leaned forward. "I asked you a question."

"I heard your question."

" _Okay_ , so why not ask her out?" He repeated himself. "You knew her for years, so you obviously know what makes her tick as a person. It shouldn't be as hard as asking someone you don't know out-"

It didn't sound like Dyspo was really to taunt him, Zoiray figured. But the longer he stayed silent against that question, the more anxious it made him, to the point where he shot off his seat and looked at Dyspo. "I don't know _how_ to, okay?!"

Dyspo leaned back a bit, there was silence between the two. Zoiray had quickly settled back into his seat, and Dyspo registered what Zoiray said…

Why was he _not_ surprised?

"Dude... all you have to do is, mayhaps tomorrow or whenever you're ready, call her or text her and ask if she wants to take things a step further." Dyspo suggested, holding out a hand in succor.

"But…" Zoiray got really shy all of the sudden. "What if she says 'no', and then I ruin our friendship?"

Unknown to anyone else, Zoiray had a really habit of _overthinking_. Unfortunately that is going to be prevalent habit he'll execute for the next coming days.

"She's your childhood friend. She probably knows how awkward you are more so than I do. She'll understand." Dyspo gave Zoiray a cheeky smile despite the smaller Trooper hitting his arm (having to get off his seat, jumping onto Dyspo's chair arm to do so). The interaction they shared was weird because, the both of them were so used to shitting on each other. But here's Zoiray caving in to his slight anxiety over his long-standing crush, and Dyspo giving Zoiray sound advice over his own lack of confidence.

But don't think Zoiray is going to let his snappy persona waver over the hare's support. He ain't stupid. "You make sure you tell _nobody_ I told you any of this." Zoiray raised a tiny finger at the hare. "I don't want this to be anybody's business."

Dyspo blinked, and then he nodded. "Alright."

" _I'm serious_."

Now he had to raise his hands, because the tiny Trooper looked like he was going to uppercut Dyspo… if he could reach that far. "Okay okay, I won't go out there and just tell strangers about it. I promise."

Zoiray leaned back, concluding his bit of secret telling with the folding of his hands. "Good."

...

" _MY. GOD_." Voun slapped both his cheeks in shock. "SO ZOIRAY WAS FLIRTING WITH SOMEONE? _ZOIRAY?!"_

 _Technically speaking_ , Dyspo promised not to tell _strangers_. The Pride Trooper members in this room weren't _strangers_.

Kunshi and Toppo shared shocked looks as well. Dyspo's best friend leaned forward. "You _can't_ be serious."

"I _can't_ make this up!" Dyspo swept his hands. "It was a really old friend that he's been in contact with for many years."

"That's not a friend at all." Vuon shook his head. "You sure that was his friend?"

"That's what he told me." Dyspo said. "He said, well he didn't _outright_ say this but… he actually really likes her." The hare sat down on a chair. "He's always smiling every time she contacts him and he's been even happier lately, because she's coming to Netfiss."

Vuon smiled underneath his beard. "That is sweet to hear. Maybe Zoiray will get a chance to ask her on a date when she arrives."

"I can't wait 'till that happens." Kunshi rubbed his hands. "I've _never_ could imagine Zoiray being swoony over someone. Ever."

"How much you wanna bet, she's flying over because he already asked her out?" The dinosaur crossed his arms. "Knowing Zoiray, he'd plan that shit out before she'd step foot in this planet."

"... _Actually…"_ Dyspo finally raised a finger to the three of them. "He hasn't asked her out because well… he's too shy to do so."

" _No…_ he hasn't?" Kunshi frowned, disbelief crossed his face. "Zoiray is the _last_ person I know to be shy. The guy's got too much confidence!"

"Maybe that shit's just inflated." Vuon waved a hand. "He's probably a completely different person around her."

That made quite a lot of sense. "I can vouch for that." Toppo was smiling almost in a dreamy sort of way because he was reminiscing. He looked to the younger three men. "To force him to ask her out would be damaging for the both of them. We don't know how she feels towards him, and if Zoiray's soft towards her he might come off as rushy, no matter how many years they have under their belts."

Dyspo raised both brows. "Really?"

Toppo nodded. "You wouldn't want to ask them such a thing after not physically being with you for so long." He then looked really sheepish. "That's how I messed up the first time."

"The first time? You knew your wife since you two were children?"

"Well not for _that_ long, but I met her in my teen years. We broke apart because of where we went for studies, and then when I told her I was heading back, I _jumped_ at the idea of dating her." Toppo looked elsewhere. "But I didn't know how dates went."

There was silence, and Vuon had an impending smile growing on his face. "She denied dating you didn't she?"

Toppo straight up answered. "Yes, right after our date." That earned pained looks from the others along with _ooo_ sounds. "And then we tried again because she felt bad, during our second date we had an argument." The leader shrugged with an impending smile. "We forgive one another the next day immediately, and then we started liking each other and then we loved each other, and the rest is history."

The guys laughed. Speaking of which, they never really got to meet Toppo's wife. She lives in Toopike at the moment.

"So we basically gotta let them both sweeten up first before Zoiray could hit her with the question?" Kunshi oded his suggestion to Toppo's story. "What about rejection?"

"I was a _little_ too optimistic on that behalf." Dyspo nervously chuckled. "I just told him 'Hey, go ask her out. She knows you, she'll totally accept it'."

"The _exact opposite_ would happen in that case, Dyspo." Toppo said.

"Maybe _if_ Zoiray introduces us to her, we would know how she's like." Kunshi scratched his chin. "We gotta know if she likes him back."

"But how?" Vuon asked. "We're not friends with her or anything, and to come to that conclusion would take a while."

They all pondered on the situation. Zoiray could be quite stingy, but that's not to say his closest hero-buds would not help him with his crush. They needed a solution, and _quick_ , because if Dyspo had placed the thought of acceptance into Zoiray's brain, he might jump the gun and ruin everything.

Dyspo quickly snapped a finger. "I got an idea! Alright so…" The men involuntarily gathered together like they were having a conference call. The hare rubbed his hands together. "We're gonna need more people to help us with this, but I already know who can get the information we need..."

"Zoiray wants to date his best friend?!" Cocotte accidentally raised his voice, even though Zoiray wasn't here. "He has never told me that!"

"Wait, he's _told_ you about her?" Vuon cocked his neck forward.

"Well only a little, like… that she's coming over and of some of the conversations they've had and that's about it." Cocotte smiled to herself. "I can't imagine Zoiray ever having a crush on anyone, not to mention him being shy over it."

"Well, _yeah_ …" Vuon smiled tinily. _Tinily._ "That's why we kinda need you to seek her out."

She blinked once, twice, before straight facing. "You want me to spy on her?"

"Well-no, not you!" Vuon raised both her hands. "Dyspo thought it'd be reasonable if you guys became friends, since you're already friends with Zoiray, so it's like-"

"So I can get both their viewpoints and see if they are compatible with one another?" She crossed her arms.

"Now _there_ we go!" The dinosaur snapped his fingers. "But don't make it too obvious; you're a woman and so is she so… you guys would share secrets easily." Not to mention Cocotte was _real good_ with making friends. Jiren ought to take notes.

"I mean… I suppose it's not a bad idea." Cocotte gave it a meager thought; she knew more about Zoiray and his friend than the others did. Every time Zoiray brought up their conversations, the smaller Trooper would become a beaming ball of light. Cocotte had the privileged of hearing the two talk to one another while she and Zoiray were in her car, and his friend sounded really nice and cute. She would imagine that since they were from the same planet, she would also be as short as him, and the idea of the two becoming little lovebirds was too cute for her to decline this plan.

"I'll pitch in." She said, and Vuon smiled brightly. "But how are you supposed to know when she's coming around?"

"Don't worry about that." Vuon waved a hand dismissively. "Dyspo's got Toppo to get Jiren for that."

And speaking of Jiren, he would be the very first piece to evoke this strategy Dyspo laid out. In order to get him to partake in such a thing, his friend would have to ask him for his support. Later in the day, Dyspo said that Cocotte told him the _specific_ day as to when Zoiray's bestfriend would be landing in Netfiss, which is exactly six days from now. All Jiren had to do for now was scout the planet and relay on the ship's passing. It sounded easy but it would be hard to get Jiren to participate in something that doesn't interest him.

Or maybe not, actually. This might not be obvious to most, but Jiren will do _anything_ when he's bored.

Toppo opened the door to Jiren's room in Netfiss' base, used to how mostly empty it was minus the bed, and a drawer for keepsake. He looked at the floating Grey in front of him. Jiren's eyes were closed, as he was meditating again, and the Pride Trooper looked like even a truckhorn to his ear wouldn't perturb him. He approached Jiren calmly, it might take a few tries to get the Grey's attention...

"Jiren-"

"No."

...or not.

Toppo would have soured at the quick denial, but he didn't do so. Instead, he furrowed a brow in confusion. "What are you saying no to?"

"You don't think I've heard of what's going around in this base?"

A blink. And then two more blinks. "...You weren't here since last week."

Jiren opened one eye. Now that Toppo thought about it, Jiren was probably in the middle of the room for no reason; he was not meditating. If he were meditating, he wouldn't have answered Toppo so quickly… maybe he was _eavesdropping_. _But no one has seen him since nine days ago._

Lowkey, Jiren was, but that's besides the point. "I am of no help in Zoiray's situation."

"No no, you _can_ help _._ Just listen," Toppo sat on the bed and clasped his giant hands together to get his friends attention; meanwhile Jiren's eyes were back to being closed, "Dyspo already knows the time when she's supposed to arrive. We just need someone to be on standby and watch the skies in about six days from now."

That made Jiren open his eyes. "So you want me to stand somewhere, and watch a ship fly past me?"

Jiren was acting like he had a business to run and was in the middle of his vacation in the Bahamas or some shit with how bored he sounded. And what he needs to do isn't even that far from what he does normally! "Jiren, it's a simple task that we ask of you."

"It sounds unengaging."

"You literally stand and stare off of cliffs for hours on your own time." The leader was quick to check the warrior. "Being on watch for a ship is child's play for your attention span."

It is, but again, _that's besides the point_. "Why does this matter to all of you?"

"Because we want Zoiray to be happy."

Jiren blinked. "Who says he wasn't?"

" _Well_ Jiren, if you were listening to us, you would know that he's quite frustrated over the fact that he has strong feelings for her." Toppo placed both his hands on his knees and leaned forward. "We simply want the two to… _converge_ nicely."

"Why can't you all just greet her when she arrives?" That made the most sense in Jiren's brain.

Unfortunately, it was also the worst course of action in this case. "No! We want this to be a secret amongst all of us. Zoiray does not know that we all know he likes her, and we'd keep it that way up until things work as planned." Toppo sighed, Jiren was being difficult again. "Have you ever not felt such a way towards someone? You can't just jump the gun and say you like them."

"Yes you can."

Toppo cocked his neck back at how quick Jiren's response was. "And how so?"

"I did so." Jiren shrugged. "It worked for me."

The rest of us should not be surprised. _This_ was new for Toppo. "...You had a girlfriend?"

"A wife."

The leader's yellow-black eyes went _wiiiide_. Jiren was _married_ at one point? _Jiren?_ "... _Really?"_

Jiren nodded.

"And you outright told her you liked her?" Toppo asked, he got another nod in response. "And she liked you back, and you two started dating?"

Jiren, for the life of him, could _not_ explain how he and his wife were an item for so long, up until her death. It was like… well, it was _gradual_ , but at the same time their attraction felt instant. Maybe it was because he was drawn in by _her_ , and she was drawn by his idiocy.

Because… he relatively was an idiot when he was younger. _Relatively._

"It just happened." Jiren shrugged, that's as _best_ as he can explain it. If she were alive, she would have used better words for this subject. She was always good with words.

Forget about the fact that Jiren was supposed to accept a mission request, this was _interesting information_ for his sworn friend. "How were your dates like?"

"Uhh…" Jiren _actually_ reached up to scratch the back of his head in confusion. This was uncomfortable for him, he would have sounded like such a liar at this point; again, he could not explain what their dates were like because they weren't even dates. Aren't dates the stuff you have to plan? "We were in each other's company for long periods of time. That's all."

"Really? There was no food or any music or anything like that? No dancing?"

At _dancing_ , Jiren straight faced at him.

"Okay not _dancing_ , but you never took her out anywhere?" Toppo asked. "That's what I meant by a date."

Jiren blinked twice. "We would walk through her gardens. Does that count?"

"I suppose- wait… _her_ gardens?" Toppo frowned.

"She was of regal status." Jiren said. He almost started fidgeting but caught himself instantly.

Toppo thought over it. "Wow…" Jiren… marrying a _princess_? Or a _queen_ even? There was so much he had left to learn about the man before him, he could not imagine Jiren wooing a woman of such high tastes.

Expect he didn't woo her, Jiren just had the classic hero trope called _charm_ or some shit. He couldn't even consider himself charming at a young age, and he used to annoy her all the damn time. But he liked it how she'd bounce back, and she'd like how he'd be around her constantly and uhh… _yeah._

There was a bit of silence between the two. The draft in the room was very cool, bringing the two back into the reality of where they are sitting. The leader clasped his hands again. "So would you help us?"

Jiren heaved a long sigh.

"Jiren if you can do so much as sit in one place with a queen and end up getting married by her, why can't Zoiray and his friend be coerced together?"

There was really no point for Jiren to deny the request, because he was bored; _that's_ number one, and number two, it did him no major harm. All it did was take away time he could have spent on something else like… watching a white dwarf; you ever _seen_ those things? They are absolutely _marvelous_ from afar.

But just this once, he decided… he'll take the plate. "Fine."

Toppo almost jumped off of Jiren's bed in triumph. Why he was exaggeratingly happy made no sense to Jiren at all. "Thank you so much, Jiren. I and the others appreciate it."

"Right." That was all he said. "What will happen from then on?"

Toppo had no problem telling him more of the plan at hand. "Well after you would report the ship's sighting, we can make Cocotte 'run into her'. We're getting her to give us a bit more insight to what Zoiray's friend would do when she comes around."

Jiren nodded blankly. It would not hurt to help the annoying, sassy Trooper if it meant he didn't need to be around him. That was why he asked what would proceed after his task was done, _without_ throwing the eclipse over Zoiray's name. "And this is all you need from me?"

"Yes, Jiren." Toppo said. "You have more than enough time to prepare or something…" The heck was Jiren gonna prepare? His feet?

"Right." Was all he said, and then he closed his eyes, finalizing the conversation since he had already agreed. Toppo stood up after a moment, and left the room with a smile on his face. The very first move was made, now all they gotta do was see to how compatible Zoiray and his bestfriend are.

Here's Jiren standing on top of a really, really large building, miles above the surface of Netfiss six days later.

Here's Jiren, with his arms crossed and Pride Trooper suit on, looking into the silver-pink skies of this planet, still inwardly questioning why he partook in this lovey-dovey experiment thing.

All he had to do was spot a ship, a particular Red Tip Express ship with the number 8599 on either one of its sides. Much like a subway, ships are given numbers based on their dropoff and pickup areas. Red Tip ships are normally some of the fastest ships around, and a lot of ports in Netfiss have Red Tip expressways. He was told that it should be coming sometime in the morning, so he left the comfort of this one nearly inhabitable planet and stood on the tallest building in Netfiss, thinking it would pass by in no time…

Someone needs to tell him that public transportation, as useful as it is, can be _unreliable as shit sometimes_. When someone says their plane should reach the country in the morning, expect it to be there in the afternoon unless you're a multi-trillionaire with a few hyperspeed jets to his name. I'm not pointing fingers.

The fact that this ship was coming from many light years away would prove that Jiren's more-than-punctual feet would have to be standing for a few hours… or _several_ , in this case, because now the sun was setting.

In the time he had spent looking at the sky doing nothing, his head was mostly empty, minus the occasional questioning of how he hadn't ditched this objective sooner. There would be random fleeting thoughts though, like how some of the birds that flew as high as to his waist were able to do so with the lack of air in this altitude, or like why the clouds were parted a few hundred miles ahead before he realized it stopped raining in that area. Sometimes he would shift and then a random part of his spine would crack out of lack of movement, and it would be relatively loud since it was silent, and then there was a period of time where he would blink just to see how much of the scenery would change before his eyes. Obviously there wouldn't be much change, so he went into looking at his hands, and counting all of his fingers before looking around. And he did this repeatedly, because he was bored as shit, and you'd think someone like him was as patient as a pangolin when it come to waiting for someone, who he didn't know, to arrive to a planet for the sake of somebody whose voice makes him want to scratch his inner ear, but he can't do that because then he'll accidentally tickle himself and he hadn't accidentally tickled himself in years-

Oh, there it goes.

Jiren's eyes followed the large ship that casted a shadow over him, despite being a few miles above his head. 8599 was branded bold and bright on the side of ship nearing its large underbelly. It slowed down as to accomodate for the presence of an atmosphere and descended far ahead onto one of the biggest docks on Netfiss' spaceport. Without causing any damage to the tip of the building he was standing on right now, he jumped high enough to pass miles of land before smoothly landing on the top of the spaceport the ship was heading to. It was around two hundred something feet below him since he was standing on a radio tower, but it was easily for him to see the people exiting the ship soon after.

He already _assumed_ that this person resembled Zoiray species-wise, so all he had to do was seek out a really, really, _really_ short person that looked like a Tic-Tac.

He narrowed his eyes a bit. The person in question was indeed small; and she almost stook out like a sore thumb; her horns were a bit curlier than Zoiray's. They were also darker, and her skin was pink. A clearer look upon her person and he could see that her wings were sat against her back, unlike Zoiray who has a tendency to hide them. Her eyes were more shaped and fluttery because of her lashes, and her smile was nothing like Zoiray's, which was smug and eggheaded. Hers was kind, warm and sweet, kinda like Kahseral's wife.

This is an innocent plug, but Jiren actually came to know Kahseral's wife recently before this ordeal. _That_ is a whole other story.

That was all the confirmation he needed to know that the person in question indeed landed. With that, he phased off of the radio tower, and right into the conference room where Toppo, Vuon, Kunshi, and Dyspo were chatting amongst each other. He didn't waste any time with what he had to say. "She is here."

Jiren's voice cut through their conversation like a knife. The room when notably silent before Toppo acknowledged what he said. "What does she look like?"

Jiren gave them a brief description of her appearance, and Toppo smiled at him gratefully afterwards. "Thank you so much, Jiren."

Jiren nodded, and logged himself out of the room.

Dyspo clasped his hands together. "Alright. According to Cocotte, Zoiray said she plans heading down to Sweetie's once she arrives. That would be _perfect_ for Cocotte to go over there and 'bump' into her."

"Isn't it like a two hour drive from here?" Vuon raised a brow.

"She got word of this four hours ago. I'm sure Cocotte will be there before and even during the time his friend heads there."

Cocotte had enough time to purposely meet Mirun _by accident_. She parked in the lot of Sweetie's and exited her car. She was so happy that Zoiray recommended this place to his friend because Cocotte hadn't eaten much today and she hadn't had Sweetie's in such a long time.

Dyspo may have bought her some like four days ago but that's still a long time. Thirty six hours in one damn day, multiply that by _four_ you guys. That is a _while._

Walking up to the store was a different story though. The last time she'd personally been here was a few months ago, a lot of the time she would just order stuff from here. But there was something refreshing about actually going to your favorite store aside from their speedy delivery service, being able to smell the many pastries waiting for her made her mouth water. Sweetie's was also a very homely designed place, you'd be comfortable just chilling there in their comfortable booths for hours on end. She was so busy thinking about what she was going to eat, that she didn't notice she bumped into something, or rather _someone_ , by the legs. "Oh m- I'm sorry-"

Cocotte thought the person was her height, but she had to look down to see their face. They were really short, their height didn't even pass her knees. The face made it apparent that this was a woman she bumped into, but Cocotte found herself staring down in pseudo recognition. She vaguely knew what Zoiray's friend looked like because she saw a picture of her at one point, but here the young woman was… for some reason she didn't expect her eyes to be so big and cute, and her skin to be so pink. Was _this_ her? She had horns so she couldn't be mistaken.

 _This_ interaction was an accident though. Cocotte came in complete clutch.

The woman, Mirun, didn't bat her an eye. Instead, she just waved it off with a smile that could grace anyone's bad day, before holding her luggage bags. "It's okay, I'm kinda short so it's really not surprising if I get nudged a little."

 _Yup_ , that was Zoiray's friend; her voice was very pliant and quiet sounding. Cocotte confirmed it mentally, that face and her wings were unmistakable. She chuckled a bit at her response. "Thanks, I was just gawking at this place because I haven't been here in a while."

"I've never been here before, but I could smell the goods even in the cab." Mirun looked at the large, warm colored sign of _Sweetie's_ , having to crane her neck a bit higher like a kid would when staring at a tall adult.

Cocotte could pick her up and squeeze her, she was so adorable in person! "Really?" She made a mental note to _act_ like she didn't already know this woman up until she'd pop the question.

They both already started walking in. "Mmm-hmm, I just landed not too long ago. I'm new here." She scratched her head with a timid chuckle, and Cocotte had just realized she had hair. It was in a messy low ponytail, lose strands framed her face prettily even if her hair looked quite untidy.

Cocotte smiled. "I have no problem showing you around if you'd like."

"Oh please do! I almost got lost around here!" Mirun shook her head. "I'm not used to how the addresses are. I almost gave my driver a headache."

 _She has a great sense of humor_ , Cocotte thought. "It's not hard to wrap your head around. You'll get used to it in no time, hun." She looked up at the menu. "You ever tried any of these pastries in your home planet?"

"Only thing I had was puff pastries and that's about it, but I'd like to try stuff here. Everything smells so good." She had to fly up to Cocotte's height to properly look at the menu. With the help of Cocotte, who is a _pastry connoisseur_ , Mirun and she ordered some of the bestest pastries there. The two opted to sit together since Mirun was _already_ getting well acquainted with Cocotte. While Mirun asked a bunch about Netfiss and what it has to offer, Cocotte got to uncovering more about, undeniably, Zoiray's bestfriend.

"I haven't even gotten around to ask, what's your name?"

"I'm Mirun." She placed a hand on her chest to address herself. One thing Zoiray didn't actually mention to Cocotte, was her name. She knew everything else that needed to be known to identify her, except for her _name_ ; the simplest possible query to identifying someone.

It made her wonder if Zoiray ever wanted her and Mirun to meet. They were both women, secret sharing was not an uncommon practice for them; he's probably afraid that Cocotte and Mirun might _both_ get the wrong idea, or rather the right idea at the wrong time.

"Where are you from?" Cocotte asked, closing her eyes when she was hit with the smell of bread, muffins, macaroons and tarts that were placed on their table. _Oooh girl…_

"I'm from planet Amr." Mirun said, and Cocotte nodded. That was the same planet Zoiray was from…

"Wow… that's far actually." She knew that. "I have a friend from there actually."

"Really?" Mirun then tossed a hand with a smile, almost as if they were regarding a beloved family member. "I probably know who they are. Amr is not a big planet, everybody knows everybody there."

Cocotte admired how easygoing she was to talk to. "They do?" Cocotte took a sweet bite out of one of her rose pastries, trying not to show how much she _missed_ the savoriness of it.

"Mmhmm; Amr is pretty small. I think one single continent in Netfiss is half the size of my planet, so we call it a giant neighborhood. And we're all tiny so..."

Cocotte figured that Amr was tiny, but to put that in perspective the smallest continent possible on Netfiss is around 10 million square miles. She could imagine double that would exceed the total terrain area on Amr. The Trooper giggled a bit, because she realized that Mirun was _standing_ on her side of the booth seat this whole time. If Mirun sat down, she would literally look like a toddler trying to grab something off of a countertop. "Aren't you uncomfortable?"

The female Trooper usually keeps this one pillow in her bag just in case… okay well, she would _say_ that she might grow tired when she'd have long cruises, and would put this pillow against her back while driving. The pillow was puffy enough to give Mirun a bit of leverage if she sat on it. Cocotte pulled out the pillow. "You can use this if you want."

Mirun looked at the pillow and then looked at Cocotte reluctantly. "Are you sure? That looks really expensive."

It was, but Cocotte had like five of them at home. "Yes, it's fine girl. Go ahead."

Seeing small Mirun have to reach over and grab the pillow from Cocotte's already outstretched arm, and her placing it down and plopping down on it would have made her giggle at the idea of her and Zoiray having to bring pillows everywhere they went in Netfiss.

Mirun thanked her, and the two gotten to know each other more and more as they spent time in Sweetie's. When the two were done, Cocotte told her that she was a member of the Pride Troopers, to which Mirun snapped her fingers and exclaimed 'Knew it!'; Cocotte's makeup today, or lack thereof, made her look strikingly different than usual, and Mirun didn't say anything because she didn't want to mistake Cocotte for someone else.

A smile form on the Trooper's face; she was so cute and timid. How the hell did she become good friends with Zoiray's sassy ass?

They were exiting Sweetie's when Mirun told her, as Cocotte was purposely bridging her occupation into the conversation, that she had a friend who was heavily involved with the top members of the Troopers. Cocotte raised both brows. "In the top ranks of us?"

"Mm-hmm." Mirun said. "I'm actually on my way to seeing him over the week." Then Mirun released one of the luggage bags and pointed to herself. "He looks like me but blue."

"Zoiray." Cocotte quickly said. "He told me that one of his longtime friends were coming for a visit annnd looks like I finally met you."

Mirun plopped into Cocotte's car since she offered to drive her to Netfiss' base for the two to see each other. "Waiiit, you knew me from the get-go, then?"

A sheepish smile formed on Cocotte's face. She revved up her engine. "Well I wasn't _sure_ if it was you, Mirun, but now I know."

"Ohh… you've never seen a picture of me before?"

"Only vaguely." Cocotte shrugged. "I only know your voice very well, but I don't have your appearance downpack."

A blink. "Downpack?"

"Memorized, excuse the Netfiss slang." Cocotte giggled. "That's another thing about us, and Zoiray has spent so much time here as with many other planets that he's a strong user of slang."

"I've been in calls with him and I wouldn't understand the words he'd say sometimes." Mirun shook her head. "You guys speak so differently from us. We're not very 'slangy' people."

Amr is one of those planets filled with 'proper speaking' people, as in there aren't many words that are colloquially shortened in their languages. This was according to Khai when she asked him about Zoiray's planet, since Khai is the encyclopedia of the entire Universe. "I can tell. I'm sure he'd be very happy to see you."

Oh, Zoiray will be _happy_ alright. He'll probably be the happiest he's ever been since she'd met him. That not to say that he isn't a happy person, but Cocotte could imagine him being so sweet and shy to her, the _exact opposite_ of who he is around every single one of the Pride Troopers, _and_ Belmod and Khai.

Speaking of which, she wondered if the guys called Zoiray in yet, at least to surprise him with Mirun's appearance.

"Is he here, is he here?" Dyspo peeked out of the windows, looking into the sky to see if he can spot Zoiray flying. Even though the smaller Trooper had a car, he had wings too; also the majority of cars were _normal_ sized and his would look like some toddler's Jeep stranded in the highways.

"If you don't see him flying in the sky, he ain't here." Kunshi laxxed back into his seat, drinking Jumba juice.

Vuon looked to Toppo. "How about Cocotte?"

"I have messaged her already, and she said Mirun and she were on their way here." Toppo pocketed his phone after looking at it. "They are at least a few minutes away from our base."

Dyspo squinted down at the farther end of the streets. If that was the case, Cocotte probably _jumped_ on the highway since Sweetie's was considerably far. He was looking for a pink car with purple highlights and yellow headlights. "He better _fly_ his ass over here, like _now_ , because his bestie is gonna be here soon."

"It wouldn't take _that_ long for Zoiray to leave his suite and come over here." Kunshi shrugged. "If anything, he might have teleported into the hallwa-" Then he paused and suddenly looked around, which made the rest of the guys look around because Zoiray does have a tendency to teleport into places.

Not to the same extent that _Jiren_ does, though.

"...Is he out in the hallway?"

"Who's out in the hallway?"

By _clutch_ , it was at _that_ moment Zoiray actually teleported into the hallway right outside the main lobby. Literally just after everything they had said. "Oh, you're here. Hey."

"Hi?" Zoiray entered the large room. The man could give no qualms with the way he was dressed; he was still clad in baby blue _pajamas_. "Who were you talking about?"

Kunshi furrowed his brows. "Why are you wearing pajamas?"

"I woke up two hours ago."

"...And you're still wearing your pajamas?"

A pause, and then Zoiray shrugged. "I was watching Ninja Warrior. I didn't wanna change into anything else."

To those who know what that is, that show was the _shit_. No boost.

"You can't just roll up to the Netfiss base in your damn PJs, man." Dyspo put his hands on his hips. "What if something important happened today?"

Zoiray, as sassy as he is, looked at Toppo in regards to Dyspo's question, and he tilted his head and repeated the same damn question. " _Did something important happen today?_ "

"Well, not _something_ , but some _one_ is coming to our base." Toppo said. He stopped leaning against the wall and sat down on one of the chairs while addressing Zoiray. "At least dress appropriately."

Still no fucks given on his part. "And who would that be?"

There was a sound over the intercom that signaled someone had just entered the base. That could obviously be Cocotte since only Pride Trooper members and specialized tech or janitor forces could enter this building. The guys had paused in the middle of their talking to await whoever would walk through the automatic double doors that led to the main lobby. Several seconds later, give or take, the doors opened to reveal a near bare-faced Cocotte and a small, pink female looking all around wondrously before she would look at the faces of the men near gaping at her.

First of all, _holy crap_ she was adorable looking. Her black eyes were so big and bright, and she had her hair in this cute messy bun that framed her oval face. Her horns protruded in the same way Zoiray's did but they were a bit darker, and she was dressed in a fashion that was similar to our stereotypical fairy.

Overall, Dyspo mulled over her cute appearance, _this is what Zoiray liked?!_ He expected her to be bold, grungy even considering her male friend's personality. But looking at Mirun he seriously could not imagine her saying a single curse word without apologizing. He, Toppo, Vuon and Kunshi brought their attention back to Zoiray who literally shed off all the sass and disregard he had in nanoseconds.

"Mirun!" Zoiray done _zoomed_ over to her, and she enveloped him in a warm embrace. "I-I didn't even know you'd be coming so _early_ , I expected the ship to arrive at least in the evening!"

"Buuut I'm here!" Mirun smiled at him. She had her hands on Zoiray's biceps, still having not let go of him. Vuon can _see_ Zoiray purposely tensing up to make his arms more _pseudo-toned_. "I know I could have told you I was coming, but I wanted it to be a surprise."

Good gods, even her smile was warm and sweet tooth-filled. Toppo stood up and smiled underneath her beard. "Hello, Zoiray's friend. He's been anticipating your arrival for some time."

"So much so that he came _heavily_ prepared for it too." Kunshi crossed his arms, already making the small Trooper dart eyes at him.

Mirun giggled and looked her bestie up and down. "I can _see_ that."

"Don't sour my _finally getting to meet my bestfriend today_ with your shit jokes." Zoiray glared at the polka dot Trooper.

"They're funny." Mirun had this cute, giant smile on her face that made the other guys develop a urge to pinch both her cheeks. "I didn't know the Pride Troopers were this close."

"We are." Cocotte smiled; it was a common myth amongst many people that the Troopers only come together when there is trouble. That's not true; they are all friends of one another, at least _some_ of them. "Hey Zoiray, why not introduce her to the guys? She knows my name already."

"Right." Zoiray blinked. "But she knows all of our names, because we're Pride Troopers."

"I meant personality-wise, Zoiray."

"I'm not familiar with some of you though." Mirun furrowed one brow. That's another thing she had that Zoiray didn't: _eyebrows_.

"Okay, fine. Guys, this is Mirun. Mirun, guys…" Zoiray gestured between the people and his friend, while Mirun kept her eyes away from Dyspo. "So, this is Toppo; leader of our forces." Zoiray pointed to Toppo, who nodded with a slight bow in acknowledgement. "He's a chill guy, if you ever need anything here you can ask him. That's Kunshi, he's a nice dude. Vuon is him," he pointed with three fingers to the dinosaur which make Mirun slightly chuckle; everyone raised their brows, "He's also real nice too."

"What was the giggle for?" Vuon asked.

Mirun gave him a sheepish smile and explained before Zoiray could tell her not to. "In Amr, pointing with three fingers means that a person is annoying and needs to be watched over."

" _Really Zoiray_?" Vuon straight faced.

"Yes." Zoiray nodded.

"What have I ever done to you?"

"You annoy me a lot." Zoiray crossed his arms, making the dinosaur roll his eyes and shake his to Mirun, as if saying 'He's just bullshitting'.

The small Trooper continued. "That over there is Dyspo." Zoiray gestured, _dismissively,_ to the hare. "Don't listen to anything he says."

The only reason he said that was because he thought Dyspo was the only one who knew he had a crush on his best friend. He was _that_ petty.

"Well 'scuse me." Dyspo frowned, but he noticed how shy Mirun's wave was towards him. "What's up Mirun?"

She kindly looked away from him. Zoiray _peeped_ this behavior. "Nothing it's just… I hope this isn't inappropriate, but I always thought you were really attractive."

It is customary for Amurians to show admiration, and tell the person that they look nice or that they are good looking if they are so. Her bluntness made _everybody in the room_ look at her in surprise, especially Zoiray because one; he didn't think she'd be into anyone outside of his species, and two; this is _Dyspo_ we're talking about, his fucking _frenemy._

Could you believe that Kunshi had the _audacity_ to slurp on his Jumba Juice immediately after she said that?

"Oh… uhh..." Dyspo's face flushed not out of flattery, but because Zoiray was standing _right there_ , next to his very crush, when she said that. It had him thinking of how absolutely _tight_ Zoiray must be feeling right now. He refrained from looking even an inch to her left at the blue Trooper next to his friend. "Thanks? I'm sorry, that was just…"

"No no, it's my bad. People from Amr are known for being really blunt." Mirun smiled. "I'll tone it down when I'm here."

Yup, she better tone it down because her bestfriend has been _toning up_ ever since he found out that she was coming to Netfiss. Speaking of which, Zoiray didn't even look any bit reactive to what she said; because everyone else in the room knew that Zoiray had a heavy crush on this woman, to them he was _eerily_ calm. Dyspo hoped he wouldn't get a surprise dropkick once Zoiray's façade is wiped right off.

He decided to shut the fuck up, so Toppo spoke for him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mirun. Hopefully I can round about the other Troopers so that they can greet you as well. Do you have a place to stay?"

Mirun pursed her lips in thought. "I was going to rent a hotel nearest to Zoiray's suite, but he said I could crash at his place."

"Ah well, you are always welcome to find refuge here." Toppo gestured around the lobby.

"This place is really quite big though, I dunno if you'd like walking a lot." Vuon added.

"That's no problem for me. I have wings, I can fly out of a window if I wanted to leave. Faster than this one, too." Mirun pointed with her thumb at her bestie.

"What'chu mean you can fly faster than me!?" Zoiray frowned at her, and Vuon assumed he purposely blocked out what Mirun said about Dyspo half a minute ago.

"I mean what I said." Mirun gave him a cheesy grin that forced Zoiray to be quiet because to him, she was absolutely adorable and it's hard to argue with your crush. "I can fly faster than you."

"You're going up against a _hero_ , sweetpea."

She argued back. " _Not all heroes wear capes!_ "

"We don't even _wear_ capes!"

"It doesn't matter, I'm still faster than you by flight." Mirun crossed her arms. Zoiray reverted back to his sassed nature and rolled his eyes at her with a tiny smile.

"This happens in every video chat they have." Cocotte chuckled. "Ya know what, Mirun; why don't you get yourself situated here? Zoiray'll show you around."

"Aww, thanks." She bowed a bit to both and Toppo and the other three men. Zoiray was looking between her and Dyspo to see if she'd 'flirt' with him as he slung his arm around her shoulders, you know, being _territorial_. As they both walked out of the lobby, the five of them could hear Mirun saying, "Woah, you've gotten so much more toned over the years!"

"Why yes." Zoiray had said, he sounded _real_ proud. "I've been working out quite a lot; I do have a heavy responsibility I have to carry with me..." They both became inaudible afterwards.

Given a minute into their disappearance, when everyone was sure they were out of ear's plight, Vuon snorted so loud it made Cocotte jump. "Was he really trying to flex the tiny arms he has right now?"

"I find the both of them to be cute." Toppo smiled. "It's an innocent thing to watch."

"Yeah…" Kunshi sipped his drink again, and then turned to his bestie. "Dyspo, how you feelin' over there?"

"Shut up, man. That's, that's not-" Dyspo shook his head. "I can't imagine how _pissed_ he inwardly was at that."

"I'm sure he knows it's just a _compliment_ , but still…" Vuon remembered his very first elementary crush, which ended in a similar fashion to this situation: he was sharing his pack of 108 crayons with her- and to all us grown people out there, if you had even a _64 pack_ of crayons back in elementary you were immediately the coolest kid on the block. A kid was walking by and he didn't want his lollipop so he just offered it to her, and she said 'He's so cool, he gave me his lollipop. I like him.' After he heard the last three words, he literally snatched all his crayons from her and stormed away from where she was sitting in the schoolyard.

 _In this case_ , it must've been heartbreaking to hear your crush call someone you _don't not hate_ attractive. "It's just an innocent compliment, and that was it. She probably doesn't have a crush on you or anything." Cocotte shrugged.

"Yup." Kunshi nodded. "You'll be fine."

"You _really_ wanted some drama to start between the two." Vuon narrowed his eyes at the polka dot Trooper. "Don't sit up here trying to be a peacekeeper."

" _No,_ that's horrible! I wouldn't want to see Dyspo and Zoiray fight over a girl!" Actually, he would. Actually he would pay to see that, because it's been too quiet for way too long and those two haven't bickered in a while.

"Now all we have to do is wait for her to meet the rest of the team." Toppo smiled. "She already seems like a sweetheart."

"Mm-hmm." Cocotte shared the same sentiment.

"I'm shocked as to how she's friends with him for so long." Vuon frowned. "Not to say he isn't a good friend or whatever, he's just seems too sarcastic for someone like her."

"He's probably a big sap around her, that's why." Kunshi raised his cup like he just pitched in a great business plan. "Remember: dude's got a crush on her."

"Give it a day or two, she'll meet everybody, and from then on," Dyspo rubbed his hands, "We can _finally_ execute our plan."

Mirun got accustomed to the Netfiss base quite quickly. During Zoiray's quick tour of the premise, she started to fall asleep and instead decided she'd keep her belongings here for the time being. Zoiray offered for her to sleep in his room, and he stood outside looking at a thing on his phone while she was changing into her sleepwear.

"Zoiray?"

He almost completely forgot he was still standing beside his door like he was waiting for her, which he could have _sworn_ he wasn't. It's not like he wanted to wish her a good sleep or anything… _pfft_ , that's sappy. "Yes?"

Mirun cracked the door open, just enough for him to see her face. She looked so cute. "Can you come in?"

"Sure." He didn't mean to fucking _say that_ , god dammit! Zoiray wanted to say that he had stuff to do, his mouth moved before his brain normally would and now he felt like smacking himself. "What's wrong?"

"Well, there is nothing wrong." Mirun shrugged while she approached Zoiray's bed again, hopping on to it and pulling the blankets upon her snug pajama. "I just want you to stay for a bit, at least until I sleep. I missed your company."

 _Score one,_ he thought to himself before berating that statement. "Mirun, every time you _lay_ somewhere, you're out in less than a minute."

"So? I wanna spend that minute with you!" She giggled, what she said had no romantic connotation to it, but Zoiray's heart did that stupid triple-flip shit. We'll call it that for this situation. "Come, sit."

He sat, and even though he was walking at a moderate pace he felt like he was _running_. _Can you stop looking like an idiot for at least five minutes?_ "Yeah?"

Mirun gave this poor man a smile that was worth millions. A meaningful pause between the two, and then Mirun placed both her hands on her right knee. "I missed you, a lot."

"I missed you too." He smiled at her. Did somebody fuck with the thermostat in his room or some shit? "How was home?"

"A lot of things have changed, like there are more cars being used since we have an old population." Their generation didn't have that many people in their age group, so Amr holds record for the _oldest_ population in the Northern part of Universe 11. "I also went on the Zipline a few months ago for the first time."

"You finally overcame your fear?" Zoiray pushed aside the butterflies in his stomach, which was easy to since she was someone he came to know. The Zipline was a long… _zipline_ that went all the way across Amr from its equator. Not many people can ride that attraction because of the insane height it was at, and Zoiray's race had wings that could only fly at lower altitudes.

Exclude Zoiray from that list since he's trained his wings to function well above any stratosphere.

"I've _been_ overcame it, ok." She leaned in with both her hands on her hips. "I'm not scared of heights."

"If I took you up to where space and the sky meet, I'm sure you'd shake from terror." Zoiray made a face.

"Your wings can't get you that high all by themselves!"

"But _I_ can." Zoiray snapped his fingers, before shifting to lean against his own pillow right beside his bestie. "I'm proud of you though. Must've been fun."

She sighed. "It was. I felt so tiny, even tinier than usual." Mirun crossed her small arms after pulling the blanket up a bit more. Zoiray could smell her maple leaf and cinnamon-like scent, he involuntarily moved closer to her. "I could take you there with me, but I'm sure that would be boring for you since you tackle monsters and stuff."

He chuckled. "It would, the Zipline is pretty slow compared to me. I could run a mile in ten seconds." The trooper smiled at his friend, who now gave him a cross look after yawning.

"Show off."

"It's the _truth_."

"Fine, fine." Mirun yawned _again_ , this time stretching as she did so.

"You're falling asleep." Zoiray shook his head. "Stop trying to stay up if you're tired."

"Does it look… like I'm trying?" She giggled warmly. The stupid ass butterflies came back and Zoiray pursed his lips. "Come closer."

Zoiray did so, and almost tensed up when she rested her head on his shoulder, giving him an ample amount of maple leaf scent. At this point, his heart was beating faster than most speedcore songs. "You might… want to move a little bit closer."

He spoke quietly because he was inwardly telling him _don't stutter, don't stutter, don't stutter…_ Mirun nodded slowly. "Mm'kay." She intertwined small fingers into the blanket, shifting so that her side was against Zoiray's as well. Her head rested against the crook of his neck and she smiled at how warm her male friend was. "Goodnight, Zoiray."

If this woman's hand goes from the blanket to even grazing his hand, he might actually explode. "Goodnight." He didn't want to move, he didn't want to perturb her, and even if she fell deep asleep he'd probably sit right here and fall asleep with her. A wave of nostalgia hit him; this was like those days after senior school when they would sit out by the large tree out in the grasslands, and lean against each other while watching the stars, tiny as they were back then.

Good Gods, when was the last time he was _this_ intimate with somebody? It was like uncovering a shell that's been hiding a delicate entity, and apparently Zoiray found it riveting that he had _just_ realized the extent of his ruggedness. He was aware that he appeared aloof, but for the longest time he had always been that way, even before meeting the Troopers and even when he was really young. Mirun always managed to make him softer, sweeter… nicer… He liked that.

A tiny smile brushed his features. He tilted his head against hers and closed his eyes, and the smile got even bigger.

"Y'all." Kettol walked into the lounge room. The entire squad save for Zoiray and Mirun were there. "What's up?"

"Zoiray's friend is here." Tupper briefed. "Toppo wants to introduce us to her."

The fish Trooper flailed his arms. "Good _lord_ , now we have two of them here? You guys already know Zoiray is a prickbox." He plopped down on one of the sofas while Dyspo quietly chuckled to himself.

"Trust me dude, she is _nothing like him_." Vuon held out both hands. "When I say nothing alike, I mean like Zoiray is sassy, and she is an absolute sweetheart."

That made Kahseral, Tupper and Kettol go wide eyed. The 'stached Trooper blinked. "You're lying."

Vuon shook his head. "Hell no I ai- Cocotte, tell me I'm lying!"

"He's _not_ , I was at Sweetie's with her and she's literally a ball of sunshine." Cocotte smiled. "When Zoiray was introducing us to her, she would bow at everyone slightly. It was so cute."

"What, she's well-mannered?!" Kettol frowned. "Okay no, I gotta meet this kid."

"Uhh… Zoiray is older than you." Kunshi remarked. "I'd venture to guess that Mirun is older, too."

Kettol waved his hand dismissively, while Kahseral smiled. "You know, if she is as such, I think that's mean Zoiray would switch himself up."

"He actually des, but that's because of something else." Kunshi raised a finger, and then looked among the group that _knows_. "Is it okay if they… know?"

Toppo shook his head. "At least not yet."

"Know what?" Kettol narrowed his eyes.

"You'll probably see it when they come along." Cocotte crossed her arms and sat on the chair arm of the same seat that Jiren was quietly sitting in. The Gray was looking at the floor. "You okay over there?"

"I'm fine." He responded, and leaned back against the chair looking up at Cocotte once he realized she was still looking at him. "Why?"

'You're just all silent and stuff." She smiled at him. You don't have anything to say?"

He shook his head.

"Do you know what's going on?"

He nodded. "I simply do not have anything to add on."

Everyone can hear the two tiny individuals out on the hall discussing something. When Tupper and Kettol heard this really warm and not asshole-like feminine giggle they raised their brows; the door opened and Zoiray was explaining something that seemed comical to the young woman and they both stopped when they were greeted with eight faces.

The three men who have never seen her before had their jaws dropped. Mirun looked so flipping cute with her hair now in a bun, fully exposing her pretty pink face. She had black brows, black eyes and was wearing a dress-like romper with florals.

" _Oh my god,_ you're Zoiray's friend!" Kettol couldn't help himself; the man had a soft spot for really cute things. He went up to Mirun and shook her hand. "I'm Kettol, nice to meet you."

 _Two faced ass,_ Vuon chuckled a bit while Mirun had to wiggle her hand once kettol had finished because he was super strong. "Hi, Kettol! Nice to meet you too. I know all of you guys' names so, I'll just introduce myself: my name's Mirun." She gestured to herself, and everybody gave her a kind goodmorning while she slightly bowed again and bid them goodmorning as well. "Zoiray offered for me to sleep here after the long travel, and I've been shown almost everything here. You don't need to worry about me getting lost."

"Ah, that's great." Kahseral smiled. "How was the trip itself?"

Mirun thought it over, and made this long sigh as if reliving her own words. "Long, and boring. I did sleep through the majority of it up until I reached the system's belt. That's all."

"You're from Amr, right?" Tupper pointed. "That's hecking far."

"It is. And I plan on living here for a long time so I packed a bunch. I don't regret it though, I got to see this one again." She referred to Zoiray who side-eyed her.

"I have a name."

"I mean _Zoiray_." She looked at him dead in his eyes, and his sassed attitude went down to a degree because… she's really pretty. Tupper narrowed his eyes. "Anywho, aren't we all hungry? Why not eat while we're a-Oh… _Jiren…_ "

Once again, we all know he does that thing where he's _here at one point, and over there the next_. Jiren _was_ sitting next to Cocotte, but he moved… somehow during the Troopers seeing Mirun, and now he was fully visible to her leaning by the wall on the furthest right. And he looked intimidating.

"What?" He asked.

 _That's the strongest guy in the universe_. Mirun meekly waved, she did _not_ see him in the room at all! "H-hi…"

He did this really uncanny wave. He doesn't wave or anything normally.

Cocotte turned to look at him. "Don't scare her by teleporting in and out of places, please."

"I walked here."

"No, you didn't." She rebuked. "I would have obviously seen you."

Jiren plainly shrugged. "You weren't looking."

"I don't have to look to know you've moved." She crossed her arms. "Don't be doing that." The two individuals looked at Mirun when they heard her giggle. "Mirun?"

She pointed at them like a peeping child hearing two adults flirt. "You two seem really cute."

Cocotte's face went _red_. Too bad Dyspo and the rest of the usual guys are here, because they snickered too. Jiren closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Ah, they do that a lot. It's nothing special." Vuon tossed a hand at Cocotte's general direction. "About _food_ tho; sure, we got things brewing in the kitchen. All in the house."

Mirun widened her eyes. "Really? You all haven't eaten yet?"

"If everyone is here, then we wait until everyone wakes up so we can eat together." Toppo said. "We're all family here."

Zoiray looked at his bestfriend. "Unless said person is Vuon."

"Excuse you?"

"It takes you sixty years to get out of your bed." Zoiray exaggerated. Vuon is one of those people who don't get up immediately after waking up; he lays there and either falls back asleep or goes on his phone for a long ass time. "So we never wait for him."

"I'm up early _today_ thought so… _ahem_." Vuon coughed not-inconspicuously. That's like hearing you normally don't take the trash out and you just pop in and say _I did so this morning;_ that's not gonna do shit to the argument.

"Geez, how long 'till the food is ready?" Tupper asked, shaking his head at the bickering dinosaur and ram. "We put everything in quite a while ago so..."

They heard a ding sound, along with a blue light going off in the very middle of the lounge room's giant round table. Toppo nodded. "Now would be the time."

The kitchen was big enough to support almost double of the Pride Troopers' roster. There was a giant rectangle table, in which the automated food system had prepared a tabletop of a diverse food banquet; the tabletop itself is to be place on top of the actual table they had to sit in front of since it had a magnetic bottom to it. Everyone sat in their rightful seats, with Zoiray being next to Mirun obviously, and ate and chatted amongst each other. The Troopers themselves learned more about Zoiray and Mirun from their 'arguments' because those two go at it over the smallest of things.

They learned that Mirun used to be Zoiray's sparring buddy when they were literally toddlers, and the two would fight with tree twigs. At some point, Mirun was actually better than him at martial arts, but he obviously trumped her in that over the years since he was more drawn into it as he grew up. Mirun was also into things that improve the mind, body and spirit, so her diet was very much healthy and omitted all junk and comfort foods. She had said she did many things to clear herself like yoga, detox drinks and meditation.

Jiren was sitting quietly next to Toppo with closed eyes and crossed arms, not bothering to eat because this kind of food did not give his body any nourishment. Son, when she said _meditation_ , Jiren's eyes opened and he looked _directly_ at her.

She jumped at the intensity of his look. He wasn't glaring at her or anything, at least, but he did speak up. "Meditation?"

"Yes…" Mirun was timid, his gaze was hella concentrated. "I mean I don't do it that often, but I do it on occasions."

Amidst everyone chatting amongst each other, here's Jiren suddenly bridging gaps with somebody who's bestfriends with a person whose voice make him want to be deaf sometimes. "How?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you meditate?"

Mirun blinked, now knowing his question. "Oh! Well, I do Seiza. It's the one that suits me the best and for some species out there, it's practically impossible to do for a long time since you know… it's a very formal sitting position."

Jiren nodded, he already knew what Seiza was. He expected a one word answer, but from the way Mirun explained her own posture choice, he can tell this was something that she knew a lot about, and could end up not shutting up about it.

Lowkey, he was like that too. His wife would hear him go on and on about things like that, especially fighting.

"How long do you meditate for?"

"It's kinda random but umm…" She thought about it. "I think somewhere between like fifteen minutes to an hour is my usual timeframe. How about you?"

"Few days."

" _Huh_?" Mirun's face dropped in shock. How can someone sit in one place for so long? She couldn't imagine meditating for more than an hour, let alone for one day or more.

It's not that hard really, either.

Jiren nodded. "It is important for me to do so, to keep my power at bay."

"Ohhhh, _that's_ why." She nodded in understanding. "I just meditate for the sake of clearing my mind. I don't have that much like," Mirun held her fist up and then rested her hand back on her lap, "Strength in me. But knowing that you're really strong, it must be difficult to maintain all of that power in your body."

She might actually be Jiren's second favorite person next to Kahseral's wife.

"There isn't much that I do outside of it." He admitted. "My body is a vessel; it only needs the smallest of nutrients to thrive healthily. Such a responsibility is not as difficult as it seems."

"You don't do much?" Mirun furrowed her brows. "Do you not hang out with the rest of the Troopers or something?"

"I get bored of it very easily."

"So what makes you not bored?" She giggled a bit at his flat response.

...There is like a myriad of things that Jiren can do to alleviate his boredom, but the only thing that he knows that doesn't bore him is staring at suns. But _out of_ boredom itself, he'll end up doing the weirdest shit. "I travel out in space to look at suns."

" _Only_ that?" She asked, and Jiren nodded. "That's not bad but, I figured since you're super strong you can probably find entertainment in anyth- actually…" She backtracked; that might actually be the opposite of what she'd say. "Forget what i just said. Zoiray and I do the same thing, except we just look at the stars in the sky."

At that point, Zoiray turned to his bestfriend. "I heard my name. What's going down?"

On Cluckin' Bell's sake, Jiren did _not_ want anyone to ruin this intellectual conversation and of all people, _Zoiray_ just hops in.

"Me and Jiren were just talking about meditation." Mirun pointed at the Grey who went from looking mildly intrigued to _ewww leave._

"Ohh right, yeah Jiren is into that stuff. Like _really_ into it." The tiny Trooper looked at Jiren who now had his arms crossed. "Are you doing fine over there?"

 _I don't like your voice_. "Yes."

"Ay, guys!" Vuon called the attention of everybody on the table, since their banquet was near done. "Who's down for Smack?"

Smack is a tavern located in the city outskirts miles ahead of this base. The very first people who jumped on the offer were the usual hype squad: Kunshi, Tupper, Kettol and Zoiray. Dyspo had something to attend to so he could not join along, and Toppo and Kahseral took a moment before they decided to agree, and the group settled out to leave, standing up and away from the dinner table.

Cocotte looked down to Mirun, who was smiling over something Zoiray said in their native language. "You wanna come with us?"

"Of course! This gives me more of an opportunity to get to know this place." The pink Amurian nodded. She looked to the reticent Grey. "Are you coming too, Jiren?"

At this point he had retreated again, having his eyes closed. So he opened them and looked at Mirun. "Why?"

"Why not?" Mirun shrugged. "You like going to taverns? It wouldn't hurt to join in."

"He doesn't like going to taverns or bars or anything of that nature." Zoiray explained, which was true. Jiren found no reason to sit in a place and listen to everyone chat and also have people staring at him because he's _the_ hero.

If anything, anybody trying to start a conflict would sit _tight-lipped_ in his presence.

"Oh…" Mirun looked down, and then waved her hand at Jiren. "No problem then! Maybe I'll catch you later!"

Holy florae bud, she didn't attempt to _pressure_ him into joining this endeavor. Yup, Mirun was definitely in Jiren's favorite list.

The ten individuals chose to leave with Kahseral, Toppo, and Dyspo being the drivers of their own cars. Zoiray and Mirun stayed with Toppo, Kahseral drove Kettol and Tupper, and Dyspo offered to drive Cocotte, Vuon, and Kunshi. On the ride there, Dyspo turned to address both males sitting in the back seats. "So how do you guys think of the two?"

"Every time I looked in their direction the two would be talking to each other." Vuon chuckled. "And Zoiray would be cracking jokes _all the time_."

"The guy just wants to impress her even more." Kunshi added. "It's practically _leaking_ out of him at this point."

"I think things will go by swimmingly since I highly doubt Zoiray said anything about him liking her." Dyspo shrugged, making a turn into an exit lane.

"I don't think...so." Cocotte shook her head. "As for her liking him… I dunno, I don't see that in her at all. Like, she strictly thinks that they are just friends and has no other feelings in him."

"You got all this from one car ride?" Kunshi furrowed a brow.

"Kunshi, when a girl likes somebody, you can _see_ it." Cocotte turned to him. "And I am not saying that she doesn't return the sentiment, I'm just saying that I didn't see it. Right now, it's ambiguous."

"At least, for _now_." Vuon leaned back. "Too bad Dyspo ain't joining. Where are you going anyway?"

Dyspo looked down for a moment. "The new UMAC fight is airing this evening and I don't wanna miss it."

Cocotte rolled her eyes, and Kunshi hit the side of Dyspo's seat while Vuon snorted. "We'll be done beforehand, dude."

" _Still_ , I gotta prepare!"

"Are _you_ throwin' down, bunny boy?" Vuon casted an arched bow at the seat in front of him. "I don't _think_ so."

As for us, the UFC fights can literally make a person take one whole day off from doing anything _just_ to season themselves up for the hype.

After the three cars had arrived to Smack within minimal intervals, the Troopers and Mirun waved Dyspo a kind goodbye, and then spent the rest of their mid-afternoon in Smack.

Much to Dyspo's implication, they all spent the entire day together and by the time everyone had ought to actually leave, it was dusk. Mirun started getting really close to Cocotte; in fact the two were chatting with each other the absolute most which Zoiray didn't mind since he knew that the only person who he'd entrusted with his secret was Dyspo.

Well, whoops. He picked the wrong one; _fool._

While he was reluctant, Mirun wanted to spend some girl time with Cocotte on her second day. Cocotte rode with Toppo this time along with Kettol, and Kunshi and Vuon joined Kahseral and Tupper on their rides home. Cocotte thought it'd be great for Mirun to hang around her place and the Amurian woman agreed happily. When Toppo pulled up in front of her house and she and Mirun exited, Zoiray waved at the two with a smile on his face, but that smile was yearning and Cocotte would practically _hear_ his thoughts on calling his bestfriend back.

Their conversation went from so many different topics that they lost track of time. After a 'while', and by that I mean like two-ish hours, it had delved into the topic of relationships and Cocotte had forgotten herself in the midst of their chat because this was _Mirun_ she was talking to. It wasn't until Mirun implied something that made Cocotte raise a question at her.

"Have you ever had a crush on your friends before?" Cocotte asked, after Mirun said that the best relationships are birthed between two great friends.

Mirun went silent. She felt wrong for admitting this, but Zoiray and she had been friends for as long as she can remember. But even many years of friendship can't dictate whether or not if two individuals should take it to the next level. In her case, she felt like Zoiray has grown into somebody who'd rather stay single for a long time instead of settling, and if it's with her, she would _totally_ settle for him. And if he chooses to wait, then she has no problem with that either.

"I have one…" Her voice trailed and she slouched a little in her sitting position, to show how timid she is over saying this bit of information. It's not like she was unsure of what she was feeling, it is whether or not such a feeling was appropriate.

Dude Zoiray would melt, sag and backflip right back up to frantically retort if Mirun ever said that liking him _at this time_ was inappropriate.

"Really? Who?" Cocotte clutched her red satin pillow, ironically the one Jiren 'hit' her with when they decided to watch something after Jiren de-babied himself.

Mirun fidgeted. "He's quite nice." She looked up at Cocotte, big black eyes grew sheepish. "And I've just reunited with him."

 _No…_ Cocotte gaped at the small woman in front of her. That just made the _majority_ of Dyspo's potential plan a hundred times easier. "...Zoiray?" She leaned forward, now both knees against her bed, when Mirun casted a gaze downwards. "Mirun, why are you so bashful, hun?"

"I just- hehe, he calls me that a lot." She pointed when regarding Cocotte's term of endearment. "It's what I did yesterday when I got to meet the rest of you."

Cocotte frowned. Technically, with how late it was right now, that event happened _two_ days ago. "What'd you do?"

"I accidentally put Dyspo on the spot. Is that the right term?" She scrunched her face up. "I did mean it when I said Dyspo was good looking, but… there was an ulterior reason behind why I said it."

"What could that be?" Cocotte asked. An innocent compliment, even with an ulterior motive, can be something to be embarrassed of.

"Well I mean, okay." Mirun clasped her hands together. "When I said that Dyspo was attractive, I did that to get a reaction out of Zoiray. I wanted to see if he would be a bit jealous, and I know that's mean to want, especially because Zoiray already is someone who _can't not think_ about something." She twiddled her fingers. "I hope the two are still good friends."

Ha, Mirun has _no idea_ what side Zoiray shows when he's around Dyspo. She's pushing it.

Cocotte raised her brows. "You wanted him to get jealous?"

"I dunno, maybe to show that he cares about… what I feel? I wasn't thinking quite well at the time, I'll admit that." Mirun chuckled a bit. "Every year I speak to him, I'd see him grow more and more into someone I really want around me forever, but I don't think it shows very well on me. I'm pretty good at concealing things like that."

Cocotte laughed a bit. She _was_ right on that behalf. "Hun, I can vouch for you on that one. I've had guy friends who I, honest to everything, became hot as hell out of nowhere."

Mirun nodded and then blinked. "Is that why you and Dyspo are an item?"

"Wait, what?" Cocotte stopped her train of thought _short_ at the sudden question. "W-hell no! No, Mirun- well yes, me and Dyspo are good friends but I wouldn't date him… at least not again..."

"Not again?"

She refrained from revealing what happened when they both made a bet to date one another. To put an actually long story short… everybody lost. "We did date for like, two seconds and then it… did not work out."

"Really?" Mirun laughed at the look Cocotte had on her face; she had her nose scrunched in retrospect. "You told me a lot of stories about him and you. You _sure_ it wouldn't work?"

Cocotte shook her head. "I'm two-hundred and twenty two percent that it wouldn't."

"Two hundred twenty two is a lucky number by my people." Mirun smiled, despite Cocotte now pouting.

" _Okay sure._ " She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Now, about you and Zoiray… you think that he doesn't like you?"

"I can't see it in him. Unfortunately for us rams of Amr, a lot of the neurons in our brain that deal with emotion are not really connected to our eyes." Mirun explained. "So it's not as simple as just looking into his eyes, I really don't think he likes me at all, even though he's really nice. What's wrong?"

With every word Mirun was saying, Cocotte's eyes grew until her head cocked forward in shock. _Mirun_ said that she could not imagine Zoiray liking her… "Not even in the slightest?"

"If he likes something, he'll definitely show it; even though Zoiray is the kind of guy you can't simplify, I can tell when he likes something. And it's usually when he can't stop talking about it."

" _Girl."_ Cocotte emphasized with both of her hands, almost placing them on Mirun's tiny knees. " _Mirun_ ; when he found out that you were coming to Netfiss, he could not _stop_ talking about you." The female Trooper laughed at the surprised look on Mirun's face. "If all of us are together, he acts like he doesn't care at all but between you and me, honey… he couldn't stay put knowing you were coming around."

Mirun's shocked face turned into the cutest smile Cocotte has ever seen. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Cocotte nodded. "Trust me, the guy likes you… like, he _really likes_ you. Yesterday while you were sleeping, he came to me and called himself an idiot because he thought he looked stupid in front of you, for crying out loud."

"But he didn't even do anything out of the ordinary." Mirun started to laugh. "Oh, poor man, he probably over thought himself again. He does that _a lot_."

It wasn't until Mirun's arrival when Cocotte figured that out. The week before she came, Zoiray had asked her to help with pizzazing his apartment. "That's why his apartment is all nice right now."

"Huh? He did all that for me?" Mirun furrowed her brows. "He showed me pictures of it. I thought his apartment was normally like that. He told me it was always that nice."

Not that his apartment _isn't_ nice, but this man _decked_ his whole shit out. He bought indoor changing lights to hang around the top perimeters of his walls, specialized candles to make everything smell and look nice since she _really_ likes candles… he even bought whole floral displays to accent the entrance to his kitchen and _forget_ about the guest room he planned for her to sleep in; he made sure the blankets were her favorite color, of the right texture, he changed the lamps so they would be an incandescent purple color, he dressed her drawer with an LED mirror and organizing boxes to put her items in. He went _crazy_ the week before tonight, and Cocotte was right there watching him.

"It wasn't, but he bought so many things to impress you." Cocotte said. It was so cute to think about, she remembered taking pictures of it and showing Toppo who got the _biggest_ hit of nostalgia from the effort. "He could not sit still and he kept worrying that even your pillows wouldn't be soft enough for you once you'd reach his place. Like everyday, even though no one went in that guest room, he would fluff out the pillows because he was afraid they'd lose their 'fluffiness'." She started to laugh at the memory, it was _so_ stupid.

"Oh dear- I mean, I really loved the way everything looked. I didn't know he did all of that just for me… I'm touched." Mirun put her hand on her chest. "He must be so uneasy right now. I feel bad…"

"Don't feel bad, Mirun." Cocotte put her hand on the woman's shoulder. "He has no idea. You can always break it to him when you're ready."

And _here_ is where the problem lies. "I'm… I'm not ready…"

She shrugged. "That's why I said 'whenever you're ready', Mirun-"

"No like," Mirun fidgeted again, "I don't know how to _tell_ him without pouring myself out."

That's basically Zoiray's situation right now. It's funny how the both of them are very bold in their rightful ways, but can't admit to one another how they really feel. So Cocotte, already knowing that she would still have to aid in Dyspo's scheme, clasped her hands together and held them to her bed. "Alright. I'll help you out."

"You'll help me?" Mirun asked, and then she frowned. "How are you gonna do that?"

"It'll take some time, but you'll see." Cocotte nodded. "Trust me, when I say he could go head over heels for you, I mean it."

"I know you mean it; the man had renovated his whole house just for my arrival. That alone is enough." Mirun giggled with the taller woman. She couldn't help the smile on her face knowing how good Zoiray's friends, the heroes themselves, were as people. It's quite riveting to know that you're now affiliated with the top ranks of power themselves, yet they act like the most normal individuals. _Humility at its finest…_

Her phone started to go off and she had realized that it was Zoiray, who texted her asking if she was awake. Mirun replied back, inwardly questioning just _why_ Zoiray was up at this time of night. Not to mention… how long has it been nighttime here? "Cocotte, what time is it?"

"Hmmm…" She leaned over towards her clock. "26:45."

" _What_?!" Mirun had no idea clocks were _that_ long in Netfiss. Amr only had 15 hours in one whole day! "How many hours are there in one day?!"

"Like thirty six." Cocotte was nonchalant, and she giggled when Mirun continued to look baffled. "I know you aren't used to really long times but yup. Netfiss is a giant planet, and it's far away from its star. Why, are you under a curfew?"

"Not really but, I didn't think that much time had passed. When I came here yesterday it was 7:23… or was that today?" She scratched her head.

Cocotte chuckled. "You came yesterday."

"Oh. Okay, good." The woman nodded. "But Zoiray just texted me and I opted to go back to his suite."

"Zoiray is supposed to be _asleep_ right now." Cocotte's voice was sort of serious when she said that, Zoiray would _never_ stay up until this time. Had he been sitting there waiting for Mirun to text him? "He's coming to get you?"

"Yup. I told him if he did fall asleep earlier then he didn't need to, but he was awake this whole time." Mirun blinked. "So I gotta wait but until then, let's discuss more about this crush situation."

Zoiray lived a good hour away from Cocotte under normal traffic conditions. Since it was late at night, and there were less cars around, and Zoiray was probably fucking speeding for his girl _friend_ right now, he got there in a little under thirty minutes.

Her doorbell rang, and she and Mirun went downstairs to greet the small Trooper clad in snazzy pajamas and fluffy flipflops. "Hey."

"Zoiray!" Mirun was ecstatic to see him, so much so that she innocently hugged her friend thightly. Meanwhile, Zoiray's whole body was heating up again. "Me and Cocotte kind of lost track of time."

"I can see that, it's _really_ dark out, hun." He pushed aside the giddy feeling in his chest with confidence. "Cocotte, how was you guys' little kick-it session?"

Cocotte loved how territorial he was over his own female friend, _asking how their hangout was… geez._ "It was great! I got to learn more about her and she got to learn more about me and this planet."

"I didn't know that this planet had a huge time… scale?" Mirun gestured weirdly, giggling at her choice of words. "Thirty six hours in one day… goodness."

Zoiray pointed at Mirun and looked to Cocotte. "It's funny because she can't even stay awake within fifteen hours."

"Hey, I did _quite well_ throughout today, didn't I?" She retorted, crossing her arms and giving Zoiray a cross look.

"Almost. You nearly fell asleep in Smack." Zoiray shook his head. "Goodnight, Cocotte. I'll see you tomorrow or sometime afterwards, I dunno."

"Goodnight, Cocotte!" Mirun waved back at the female Trooper and blew a friendly kiss at her. Cocotte could have sworn she saw Zoiray _lowkey_ double-take.

She closed her door after bidding them farewell, and skipped upstairs back to her bed, plopping down on her red pillow that faintly smelled like cinnamon. She knew Zoiray liked Mirun, but now Mirun liked Zoiray as well? This meant everything was falling right into place, even though she should've expect such to happen since they've been friends for a while. Dyspo would be so hype to hear about this tomorrow morning. Cocotte pulled the blanket over her and smiled to herself.

This was _swell friggin' news._

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Yeah boii, we got two parts to this shit huehue**

 **So… Zoiray has a crush on his bestie, Mirun has a crush on her bestie, and it looks like the job here is halfway done.**

 **Only** _ **halfway**_ **, because it's up to the boys to come up with the perfect date setting for them. That's finna happen next, and I'll see youse when it does!**

 **P.S. : About the cinnamon thing… Greys have a scent that closely resembles cinnamon. Huehue.**


	22. Turned Into Success

**I got a wee storytime here…**

 **This chapter was** _ **supposed**_ **to be out on the 17th, but I got so sick that I almost died. Okay I didn't** _ **almost**_ **die, but it was** _ **bad**_ **. Since my immune system is the GOAT, I got better in literally one whole day and have been preparing for the holidays and working a lot since then. So I'm more than good now, sorry for the heavy heavy delay.**

 **I read the 41st manga chapter; I kinda take back my idea for Jiren's backstory because it's so centered around the anime version so I dunno, don't want jeopardize things** _ **right now**_ **. Back to the story:**

 **We now know that Zoiray and Mirun have a thing for each other. Dyspo and his boys are going to do anything to make sure their plan falls into place.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **Turned Into Success**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

The following morning, Cocotte had woke up to Zoiray's goodmorning text. She felt her chest jump because at first, she figured Mirun may have outed her feeling to him. She greeted him back but as she got into a short conversation with him Cocotte quickly realized that he was still clueless.

That's a good thing. As long as the two come clean gradually.

The female Trooper had finished eating her breakfast, got dressed, and once she took a look at her phone she teleported right into Dyspo's house. Sometimes the two do this whenever something urgent comes about… or whenever they have bullshit to say to one another that can't wait, and you might be thinking _can't they just text_?

She knew damn well that Dyspo was snoring his ass off right now, he'd never be up _this_ early.

" _Oooooh,_ Dyspo, Dyspo!" Cocotte came billowing into the hare's room after she had ran up his stairs. Yes they both do that to one another very often knowing that neither two roam around their houses naked, but right now she was way too excited to take into account that her best guy was asleep.

So to kindly wake him up, she jumped onto his bed with so much excitement that it made his perk up at the loud sound.

" _DYSPO! WAKE UP, I GOT SOME NEWWWWS-!_ "

"W-what?! Cocotte, you can't be screaming like that, my ears are sensitive in the morning!" Dyspo sat up to see his female friend laying against his lap with a big smile on her face. He rubbed his earlobes.

"Sorry, I just have an important update on something!" She sat beside him.

"And what is that?" Dyspo scratched his back before stretching.

"It's about Mirun." Her hands folded together in excitement. "She likes Zoiray back."

It was like someone pressed the pause button on Dyspo's whole body because he sat there, with his arms reaching up and his back arched, eyes locked on his friend. "No way…"

" _Yes_ way."

"Seriously? I thought, I thought for a moment that she… liked me a little bit." Dyspo finally reclined his stretching. "So did she confess to him or…?"

"No, so-" Cocotte clasped her hands like she would telling her girlfriends some saucy information. "So we were chatting and things, and then the topic of guy friends is brought up and that's how I found out. She, much like Zoiray, has a grown crush on him for quite awhile now, but she hasn't told him about it yet. She also thinks he doesn't like her back."

"Uhh, judging from the looks he kept giving me yesterday during breakfast, I think that that's quite _obvious_." Dyspo shook his head. "The guy was _grilling me_ that afternoon."

" _Yeah_ , but she said Zoiray was always the protective type over his friends, and I know that for a fact." Cocotte turned so that her right leg was folded, her torso partially facing Dyspo now. "I mean, not to the same extent, but Amurians tend to be protective of their friends and friendships."

"So that mighta been confusing for her… and the rest of us." Dyspo lifted his legs to swing them over, but Cocotte was in the way. " _'Scuse_."

She moved, and then had to roll her eyes. "Why are you wearing pink boxers?"

Dyspo had a defensive look on his face. "It's _fluffy._ " If any of you have ever owned a pet bunny or hare, for some reason their underground-favorite fabric is velvet. They really like that shit, and Dyspo is not immune to it.

Cocotte giggled. "So basically, those two both don't believe they like each other. I already broke it to her about what Zoiray did before she arrived."

"What'd he do?" Now, Dyspo had finished putting on his all-day pair of sweats and was looking for a casual shirt in his drawer.

"He literally-I didn't tell you this? He took me in one day, and kept running around his house _bedazzling_ Mirun's room. Like he replaced his lights, his whole guest bed set, even the stuff hung on his _walls_ were changed to suit his bestfriend." She cackled seeing Dyspo's shocked expression because _first of all_ , Zoiray was always the type of person to not give two craps about specificities.

Apparently, Mirun was one that he was _bound_ __to care about.

"Get out…" Dyspo blinked, still stuck in the midst of putting on the _one_ white shirt that was literally on top of everything else. "No fibs?"

"No fibs, I'm being _serious_." Cocotte nodded, emphasizing again. "He even fluffs out her pillow just in case it 'isn't soft enough."

"Oooh we need to get them on a date." Dyspo clapped his hands. "."Our job has been made easier

"You mean _my_ job?"

The hare snapped his fingers after a short pause. "...Right. So," He plopped down on the bed, " How do we go about this?"

"Don't get too excited, DiDi. From what she told me, she'd rather not force him into something he isn't ready for, we can't just plop 'em on a date tomorrow. That's not possible."

"Zoiray may wrongly think otherwise." Dyspo shook his head. "He might jump the gun before we do."

"He wouldn't do that if Mirun doesn't tell him."

"How do we know if she didn't tell him?"

Cocotte's phone vibrated _coincidentally_ after he had asked. She turned it on and saw the message from Mirun:

 **Mirun: I woke up this morning and smelled breakfast downstairs. He still has no idea just how much I love him for all this.**

The female Trooper showed the text to Dyspo. " _That's_ how."

"What the fuck, Zoiray can't cook!" Dyspo exclaimed. "We all know this already! She might get salmonella from that shit."

"Dyspo, he stocked up the majority of his time watching reruns of Inga's cooking show." Cocotte laughed. "I'm not joking when I said he fucking _terraformed_ his lifestyle just for her."

Dyspo shook his head and instead of being a transformative individual he looked to the side. "I just hope the food's good." He winced at the slap he received on his arm. "Ow, man! The heck?"

"That's not _nice_." She scolded him before standing up and opening his room door, turning back around. "Zoiray is more than likely substantially better than _you_ are at cooking."

"Getting possessive over him now? I'm telling Mirun." Dyspo poked his tongue out and then zipped out of his room at light speed, leaving hair-tossed Cocotte standing with an held up.

"Geez…" She shook her head and went downstairs anyway. She had only teleported into the upstairs hallway, so once she went down to his living room and noticed that his kitchen sink was _considerably full,_ she knew the hare had spent way too much time out of his house.

At that point, you might as well wash every single dish right after you use it. Piled up dishes can literally ruin your appetite; don't believe me? Try letting your sink pile up with dirty dishes and runoff water, your nose will disagree with you.

Pushing all of that aside because she noticed he was heading to kitchen and he did this tiny reel back at what she presumed to be the _smell_ of that, Cocotte plopped onto the living room and pulled out her phone to respond to Mirun, and then turned around when she realized she heard no water. Was he not gonna clean all those dishes?

It was getting on her nerves a wee bit.

The female Trooper turned around to see him smiling and typing something on his phone. Now, she came to know this man for years; any regular person would see that and think he was in a funny group chat or was just smiling at something meager, but Cocotte knew better than that. Let's just say that _guys_ gossip just as much as girls, but theirs is substantially more comical, and _idiotic_ , than what girls have. " _Dyspo_ , don't you _dare_ try to plan anything between those two right now."

Instead of hiding his look, he looked up at her and almost pouted. "But now we know they like each other! It's set in sand."

That just means it's not something serious yet. " _Right_ , in _sand_. Meaning you can't coerce them to do anything right now since they both just reunited." Maternally pointing, Cocotte shushed him before he could 'but' her again. "Let them come to terms with it on their own."

He sighed and placed his phone back in his pocket, turning around to attend to his dishes. " _Fiiiine_."

"Good." She affirmed. "Once your done, we could whip up something for breakfast. And don't go jumping the gun, just wait for those two to get comfortable first."

The hare nodded slowly and started scrubbing a plate, almost pensively. "Right. I'll wait…"

That was two mornings ago. Indeed, the hare _waited_ a full 78 hours in Netfiss' time before one afternoon…

"You mean to tell me that Mirun likes him _back?_ " Kunshi swiveled in the wheelie chair to face Dyspo after spinning on it for like five minutes.

" _Yup."_ Dyspo folded his arms like a proud man looking amongst his friends because… he told _more than one Trooper_ this. "It's official guys."

This shouldn't be of any surprise; Cocotte _did_ say the two Amurians should not be coerced, which means that they shan't make dating plans on their own. Cocotte didn't say anything about the _guys_ planning a date for Zoiray and Mirun.

"So what are we gonna do about that?" Vuon looked at Dyspo, then at the five men in the lounge room; Toppo was reading something, Kunshi was still spinning like a child, Dyspo slowly leaned forward in his to address that question, and Jiren was sitting in midair. Don't ask why Jiren is there, he doesn't even know why he's there, but he'll do his best to act like he's not.

"Let's put 'em on a surprise date."

The leader looked up from his book, frowning under his monocle. "Dyspo, how are we going to do a surprise date?"

"Easy: We book a spot at a restaurant." Dyspo shrugged.

"But wouldn't they suspect it if it's only the two of them? If they see that we're not involved they'll know something is up." Vuon explained, and that would be much worse than the two just not being an item; that meant that Zoiray would find out that Dyspo 'more-than-likely'-but-obviously-definitely told everybody about his 'embarrassing and unreasonable' crush. That was in his own words, just ask Cocotte.

The hare smirked. "Not if they are _told_ that we're coming when we're really _not_."

"This guy…" Kunshi shook his head. "So what you're saying is… we find a suitable diner for the two to talk their feelings out, all while they _think_ it's all house?"

"Mmhmm." The resolute hare nodded, and then there was silence. "It can't be _that_ hard, guys, trust!"

He wasn't _wrong_ either. Dyspo had many light bulbs going off in his head, and ironically, it was all due to Zoiray; the guy he likes the _least._ Toppo wasn't really against the idea, it wouldn't do any harm to anyone. "When do you think we can pitch a diner?"

"We can pitch probably… in a couple of days from now. Like, literally anytime." Dyspo flipped out his phone. "We got a bunch of options down at the city."

And _Jiren,_ just _now_ deciding to be the voice of reason, pops in to digress. "There is no reason to rush this."

Toppo looked at his friend. "Jiren, I… thought you left."

"No." The Grey said, still having his arms crossed.

"Why not?" Vuon frowned. "We know they like each other, let's get 'em together."

"If it is something they just openly admitted, rushing would be unnecessary." It took that _one_ sentence to knock some sense into this men, and with that Jiren closed his eyes and went back into acting like he didn't exist.

It's quite ironic how Jiren and Cocotte share the _same_ viewpoints albeit differently. Dyspo peeped that.

"Why not give it a week or two? We'll see how things play out between them." Toppo deduced his piece while flipping a page.

"Right." Kunshi nodded. "And in that time we can find the perfect place for Zoiray and Mirun."

"We hear that there is a new edition to the Pride Troopers recently." Within a few footsteps, Universe 11's Kaishin and Destroyer stood in front of the quartet. It was pretty late, around 20:54 and at this time the majority of the Troopers would be asleep, save for Toppo and Kettol, two night owls of the group due to reruns of their favorite shows. Don't judge them.

"Not necessarily." Dyspo stood in regards to the creator. "It's just Zoiray's friend, and she's planning on living here now. Her name is Mirun."

Khai nodded. "I've seen her entering here a week ago." You would think that such a statement is super creepy but Khai's job is to observe his own Universe so… don't be surprised if he is that blunt. He'll at least tell you if he's accidentally saw you in a _compromising_ view unlike Shin, and will more than likely lowkey tease you if he knew who you were.

Belmod smirked. "I thought she was going to be an addition to the Pride family."

"She'll be an addition to Zoiray's-" Vuon stopped when he realised the room was way too quiet for him to mutter that without _someone_ hearing him.

"To Zoiray's what?" Belmod frowned.

Before Cocotte could stop her hare friend from running his motormouth, Dyspo spoke. "He has a crush on her."

"DYSPO you idiot!" She slapped his arm _again_.

"Really?" The Destroyer's smirk turned into a smile. " _Zoiray_ likes a woman? That's riveting."

Khai raised a brow. "Did you think he fancied men?"

"Well no, but Zoiray just seems so…" Belmod tried to figure out the words since the world has changed over many millennia. It's kind of hard to be hip and young when you're 200,000 years old. " _Aromantic_ , maybe. He's the last person I'd suspect to have that, and for _Dyspo_ to know?"

"He was the first one to know too." Kunshi pointed with his thumb, while Belmod shook his head with a whispered ' _wow'_.

"None of us were supposed to know but…" Cocotte raised her hands in a shrug. "Here we are. Things are running smooth between the two. They are both childhood friends." Since she has respect for Mirun's respect she wouldn't tell the Gods that Mirun liked him back.

"That is quite adorable." Khai smiled. "He's very young, things like that take a long time to flourish. I've had quite the luxury of knowing how…" Now here he goes, articulating like he's spreading seasoning, "Powerful that kind of bond is."

"Khai…" Belmod clapped his hands together in roast formation while looking downwards. "You're a Kaishin. _You've never had a relationship_."

"I have _intuition_." Khai retorted. "This goes beyond any kind of infatuation. The same thing can be said for friendship."

He isn't wrong. Belmod raised his… non-existent brows. "So are you saying that our relationship is powerful due to how long we knew each other?"

Khai nonchalantly replied to Belmod's thoughtful, weighted but playful question with a blink. "No."

The _ultimate_ shade was casted just now. Luckily, nobody really pointed that out… probably because they couldn't see under _that_ eclipse.

"Well, when you know someone for years, you would end up having a strong bond." Cocotte said.

Dyspo hung his arm over her shoulder. "Much like us."

"Not in that context." She tossed his arm off.

"Much like Khai said, _it's the same concept_. Zoiray and Mirun are friends for years and now they both got cru-"

"SHUSH!" Kunshi smacked his hand on Dyspo's damn mouth because by hell, this guy doesn't know how to keep secrets.

Belmod blinked, almost looking impressed for some reason. "Oh so they _both_ like each other?"

"Dyspo if only you _weren't_ the person that knew." Cocotte scowled. "Don't make this other people's business."

He removed Kunshi's hand. "My bad, okay! I just kinda… I got comfortable with it." Dyspo scratched the back of his head.

"Aside from all that, like _actually_ put that aside," Vuon looked at the hare with the same face that Barney would make if he was disappointed. I don't know why I specifically said _Barney_ , but just roll with it. "Zoiray for the most part, he's been head over heels for her annnnnd yeah."

Belmod crossed his arms. "Well why not put them on a little date?"

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!" Dyspo snapped his fingers at Belmod, amidst Cocotte's dismay which he was now hushing away with another hand waving in her face.

"That's impractical." Khai shook his head. "You can't just _rush_ affection."

"THANK YOU!" Cocotte went to give the Kaishin a five then stood beside him. "Use your brains, _gentleman_."

Vuon raised a clarified finger. "We _have_ been using our brains, thank you very much. Don't group us together."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dyspo narrowed his eyes.

Because Dyspo caught that shade quicker than light, Vuon backtracked. " _I'm just saying_ , she can't group us all to be idiots just 'cause."

"Well, all of you agreed to rush this." Cocotte waved a finger to each and every one of the non-God males in the room. "It wouldn't be fair to either one of them. Anyone with a crush should know to take things _slowly._ "

"Uhh, when the hell has anybody with a _crush_ … taken _anything_ slowly?" Kunshi frowned. "Those that have that don't take anything at _all_ , they just stay away from the person in fear of doing something stupid."

"But he can't just stay away from Mirun, that's his… how do you call it, _bestie._ " Khai reasoned, even though he threw a side eye glare at Belmod's snort for using a word that's 'cool with the young mortals'. "It's not like Zoiray just saw Mirun one day and suddenly becomes shy and submissive to her."

At the word submissive- in that very innocent context- Dyspo, Vuon, and Kunshi shot a look at Cocotte, and the woman instantly felt attacked. "What are you all looking at?"

"Oh, just…" Dyspo smiled and shook his head. "Nothi-"

" _Dyspo_ …" Cocotte started walking towards him. "Keep your mouth shut."

"What's the deal between you two?" Belmod tilted his head.

Dyspo, once again, was now running his mouth. "It's not _us_ , it's just that Cocotte-"

"IT'S JUST NOTHING-"

"Cocotte has a tiny thing for Jiren." Dyspo dodged the pillow hurled at him. He said it like it was well-known information which… it _was_. Even Belmod wasn't phased by it.

"Oh, I know that."

Cocotte paused, growing quite. "...huh?"

"It's quite obvious that you've taken a liking to Jiren, Cocotte." Belmod shrugged. "Don't get mad at runner-mouth boy over there, everyone knows."

That's brutally nice to know. "But he doesn't have to _say_ it!"

"Listen, it's been _known_ that you can't have a single conversation with Jiren and we all are hella quiet about it. Even _Mirun_ said something about that." Dyspo stood beside Kunshi's seat _just in case_ Cocotte throws anything else at him.

Of course, Kunshi turned around and glared at the hare. "I know you're not about to use my seat for potential cover."

Dyspo looked down with a look. "I just wanna stand here."

"If you're gonna provoke Cocotte, stand _away_ from me."

"I ain't provoking, I'm just saying…" Dyspo articulated now. "Zoiray is out here chatting and flexing around his bestfriend, he practically _reeks_ of puppy love, and he even admitted to _me_ that he liked her. And then we have _this one_ over here," Dyspo swung an arm towards Cocotte, "Who's all like 'I don't like Jiren', but whenever he says something to her she's like ' _Yes, daddy_ '."

Kunshi literally spat out his drink, both Vuon and Belmod fell into a loud fit of laughter, and Khai damn near cocked his neck back like an appalled father from the obscene joke Dyspo just made to reprimand him. "DYSPO!"

" _DYSPO!"_ Kunshi cracked. "That's not _okay!_ "

He couldn't listen to them. Cocotte was busy chasing him and slapping the hell out of his ears.

"Geez, these two…" Belmod shook his head and turned to Khai. "Well, we got the answer we wanted."

"Right." Khai said, and then he casted a glance at the hare and the woman running after each other, along with everyone else who'd calmed down and were now just watching the two. "We'll leave them to their own devices. Unless you'd wish to help them."

Belmod had a cross look at that teasing suggestion. "Obviously not. I have things to do." Besides, Belmod would joke that Jiren had a better chance at finding someone in this day and age with how old Belmod is.

… He does, and the Grey himself is pretty old too.

Ocne the Gods left, Vuon took it upon himself to bring everyone's attention back to what Dyspo planned, by throwing a small beanbag at Dyspo's head. "Can you two stop trying to hit each other?"

"You're really just gonna hit _me_ only?" Dyspo frowned at the dinosaur and Vuon shrugged.

"I can't aim that well sometimes."

That's a load of bullshit, Vuon literally has a energy _whip_. Anyways… "Fine, alright… Cocotte you heard the man, please let go of me." She released his ears, and Dyspo shook his head. "What were we going on about? Oh yeah, Zoiray and Mirun- okay," He clasped his hands, "We'll wait it out. We'll give it a week. Kunshi and Kettol will seek out potential places for the two, and when the time is right, we strike."

The entirety of the Trooper team had been left to their own devices for the next weeks. Zoiray and Mirun had mostly spent the first week alone exploring the country they were in, and the entire time Mirun peeped how _ecstatic_ Zoiray was for her to see and experience _everything_. He didn't buy her a lot of souvenirs; however the ones he _did_ buy were _expensive_ , even Mirun felt uneasy holding such costly items in a bag. The Amurian woman made it a vow, if they ever go out to explore again, to not even mention anything about the other continents or else Zoiray might actually _fly her out_ on his own wallet. She didn't want him spending so much on her in such a short amount of time.

Tonight though, the pink Amurian woman plopped down on Zoiray's living room couch while reading something she found on his shelf. She was waiting for her friend to come downstairs after his shower at the moment. Zoiray was usually really fast when it came to showers, she remembered that much from the times they would sleepover after school.

 _Today_ , this guy spent like thirty minutes in the damn shower. For Mirun, she figured he broke out of old habits, and for Zoiray, he did so for two reasons; because he wanted to use a special, expensive soap with an attractive musk, and also because he's afraid that the soap might not be her liking so he's staying in there for the scent to lessen. Mirun turned around when she heard the sound of his footsteps, regarding her friend with a smile. Zoiray came down with his phone in hand but once he caught a glimpse of the living room, he put his attention on Mirun.

"Hey." He smiled and waved and she returned the greeting. Plopping down beside her in his pajamas, he swung his arm over her shoulder. "What'cha reading?"

While Mirun answered him, Zoiray was wondering where he suddenly got this burst of confidence from. " Just this magazine. It's about jewelry."

The woman realized she made a mistake, because she could see the way Zoiray perked up at the word jewelry. The man himself sat straight while eyeing all of what she was looking at. "Which ones do you like?"

"Zoiray, please don't stretch a leg out and buy more things for me." Mirun smiled kindly though, she had to nip this in a bud. "You bought me more than enough from our ventures."

"I'm not gonna _buy_ all of this stuff, Mirun. I'm good at managing money." Zoiray then crossed his arms and looked at Mirun. "Don't look at me like that, I'm serious!"

"Do I have to show you the stuff sitting in my room right now?"

He tossed a dismissive hand. "Forget about that, what I said stands correct."

Mirun giggled and went back to her readings for a moment before placing a hand on Zoiray's thigh, making him tense a bit. He had gotten quite way too quickly. "Just don't think about buying this stuff. I'm just _looking_."

"I'm _not_ Mirun, geez." He considered her regards for the simple reason that she _told_ him not to buy anything. Mirun knew that if she didn't stress that statement, she'll wake up tomorrow morning to Zoiray's eager smiling face and gift boxes sitting right by her bed. Meanwhile, the male Trooper received a message on his phone from Toppo, it was relatively late in the night and he didn't expect for any of the Trooper team to message him right now.

Zoiray does not know about Toppo's bad habit of binging shows.

The message itself wasn't a nice greeting or anything, it was literally his name as the entire sentence. **Zoiray.**

He frowned, but answered it anyway. **Yeah Toppo, what is it?**

 **This is not Toppo.**

A pause. He expected the 'person' or whoever to tell him who he was within the second message but he got nothing. Uhh… **Then… who is it?**

 **This is Jiren.**

 _What the fuck._ Why does Jiren have Toppo's phone? **Umm. Why?**

 **The others collectively rented a diner and they would like to know if you would accept their offer.**

This is definitely Jiren; Toppo wouldn't leave his phone in open arms and even though he texted very formally, Toppo was not robotic. Zoiray long blinked, confused as hell at the oddity.

"You okay, Zoi?"

Mirun called him by his nickname and he was tugged away from confusion, feeling endearment for a moment. He hadn't heard that nickname in a while; funnily enough the word _zoi_ in some dialects of their language means sweetpea, he didn't know if Mirun purposefully coined him or not. "Uh yeah, it's just… Jiren sent me a message."

"Jiren has a phone?"

Yeah the hell right, he does. "Well, apparently he took Toppo's phone." Zoiray blinked.

Mirun frowned. "Does Jiren do that often? I can't imagine that, I don't even think Jiren himself uses that stuff to communicate."

It's a funny idea, even Mirun knew this and she only spoke with him _once_. "He has _never_ done this." **So we're all going to a diner?**

 **You lot are.** Because Jiren, right now sitting in Toppo's room since the leader is downstairs watching a movie and has no idea the Grey's ass is on his bed, was _not_ involved with this planning. Dyspo just tried to get Toppo's phone and when he couldn't, he perturbed Jiren's peaceful silence and asked him to shoot the text.

"A diner, huh?" Zoiray raised his brows. "Mirun, you want to join the others in a diner?"

Mirun didn't oppose the idea, and if she went then Zoiray went too. "Sure, why not?"

Zoiray turned to his screen. **We will be joining in. When is it?** Jiren gave Zoiray a time and a date, and the tiny hero bidded him a thanks with an inquiry? **So… how did you get Toppo's phone?**

 **He is not asleep at the moment. Nor is he in his room.**

 _That's totally not creepy._ _ **...**_ **Alright then. Goodnight.** There was no answer after that, and Zoiray told Mirun when they would embark on this diner meetup.

 _Meanwhile_ , in a room with our beloved 'get-a-date' squad...

"You sent it?" Vuon asked, looking at the Grey who decided to phase into the same room he left several minutes ago.

"Yes." Jiren nodded. He crossed his arms and stood this time, like a watcher to a city.

"That's all for tonight. Everything's done." Kunshi nodded, and Kettol agreed quietly.

"Good. We're probably just gonna make Cocotte do the reconnaissance thing again." Dyspo chuckled before the others looked at him _very_ objectively. Once he saw that, the hare backtracked. "Guys, we're gonna be _civil_ about this. It's not like we're not gonna spy on them or anything, trust me…"

The first thing Zoiray and Mirun did was look around the lavish restaurant. The theme was rather pliant, with dark mahogany walls and white table linens with red napkins. The centerpieces were black glass bouquets of red carnations, and their table was set up in a way that _could_ have been conspicuous: the seats were normal sized, but their table had only gone up to several inches above the seat's rest which can only accomodate for the only two of the group that were there.

Matter of fact, their table was _only_ that one; two seats angled from one another so that neither one of the were blocked by the centerpiece, each seat having a special Amurian aster ring cookie. An Amurian aster ring symbolizes unity, it is specially used between either two people, or a whole family. This had Zoiray's eyes narrowed to a point where Mirun asked if he was about to sneeze.

The two sat down, with Zoiray looking all around being _skeptical_ , while Mirun took in this beautiful sight as it is. "Where is everybody?"

"They're probably late or something." Mirun pointed to a table a bit distant from theirs with her thumb holding ten setted, but empty seats. "I think that's for them."

That sparked more inquiries. "Why would they separate us from them?"

"Zoiray there's ten seats over there. If they want us to sit alongside one another until they come, we shouldn't worry so much." His bestfriend looked down at the menu. Their menu looked very different from what the group's 'table' had; it was a _two-person pre-special_ , 'pre' being the preferred word Toppo used so that this wouldn't look more suspicious than it was. The menu held the same red and white theme as the table.

"We did arrive like… ten minutes before everyone else." Zoiray shrugged before picking up the menu, still looking to his sides. "I guess we'll wait. What's here?"

Kettol shook his head. "Is he being that skeptical already?" The fish Trooper watched the screen along with four others, minus Jiren. Jiren wasn't really looking at the large screen in the lounge room, he was staring out the window.

Oh by the way, they forgone getting Cocotte and actually agreed to spying on the two. They won't call it spying though, they call it _healthy supervision_.

"This guy…" Dyspo shook his head, zooming the hidden camera in on the pair. "He can't be afraid to be alone with Mirun right now."

Vuon looked to Dyspo. "Well to be fair, the place we picked is very fancy and all the colors we chose were very… romantic. Wouldn't be surprised if he got somewhat suspicious."

"They both think we're all coming. Let's see how this plays out." Kettol opened the second bag of chips that was right beside his beanbag chair. You ever notice how this guy literally eats in every group meeting thing possible? That's not a plot fault, he just _can't_ stay away from chips.

"These are all straight up Amurian dishes." Zoiray furrowed his brows; he didn't recall any of the Pride Troopers having tried his homefood. He didn't think that any one of them would even like Amurian food, it didn't suit their tastes at all.

"Mmhmm." Mirun nodded, still keeping an upbeat attitude. "Maybe they are doing this in courtesy to us. That's sweet of them. I don't know if Cocotte could… stomach some of these cuisines though."

They were completely different species, Cocotte, Tupper and Kahseral would have the hardest time digesting the majority of what was on the menu, so that ruled three of the ten of them out of eating. Not to mention the same substance found in chocolate can be found in many Amurian dishes, and _that_ compound upsets Kettol's tongue and stomach. Toppo may or may not have a problem with their cuisines aside from _his hands_ , Vuon also hates anything that has even the _thinnest_ ties to chocolate, Kunshi doesn't eat a lot of ethnic foods, Dyspo has the weakest stomach in all the 12 universes, and Jiren literally eats pot plants.

That last part Zoiray didn't know but still… it would literally be only him and Mirun doing the most eating.

"Most of them can't." Zoiray himself hasn't seen the majority of what was on the menu since he was a _child;_ to be fair, he didn't remember eating, or probably never ate a lot of these things. "What should I get…"

He was tied because of the curiosity of the Amurian dishes that seemed very 'countryside', and also because he didn't want to order something that he wouldn't like. Mirun was leaning over to see what he was looking at, and Zoiray pretended his whole neck didn't flush from her scent. He read a particular meal that caught his eyes. "Spruce sage…?"

Mirun read the name of the dish, gave it a thought, and then shook her head. "No, you wouldn't like that."

"How about…" He gave another go. "No… maybe, wait no… Roasted sedges?"

"You like roasted things?" Mirun asked. When Zoiray was younger, she remembered the man wouldn't eat anything that was roasted since he didn't fancy the taste.

"Well, not really but…" Zoiray scratched the back of his head. Usually he was good at making eatery choices but maybe it's because Mirun was practically leaning against him right now, and she's really pretty and she smells really nice… maybe all of that is affecting his decision making. "I don't recall seeing this before. You like sedges though."

"I do, but not when they are roasted." She pursed her lips in thought. "That's a Southern dish, maybe that's why. Have you forgotten all of where you came from?"

He crossed her expression. "Excuse you, I've been out of Amr for quite a while, Mirun."

She just shook her head. "So much so for your 'fantastic memory'."

"Why would I remember something trivial like this?"

"You said you had fantastic memory." She said. "People who have fantastic memory don't forget their homeland cuisines." The two faced the waiter that was coming over to them, and rather quickly chose what they wanted, since they both opted to have the same dish.

"I love how Mirun is telling him that he wouldn't like something and vice versa, like they still know each other's tastes." Dyspo shook his head with a smile.

"This is adorable." Vuon smirked.

"Never in my life have I ever seen Zoiray so _soft_ before." Kettol frowned. The others shared a grunt in agreement before the room fell silent.

"They seem similar to a wedded couple already."

The four men sitting in the room slowly turned to the _one_ person they all expect not to know anything about a couple should act, or to say anything about how Zoiray and Mirun were conversing. Kunshi raised a brow. "How do you know that?"

"My wife and I did the same thing to one another."

 _Cue_ the saucer eyes and the shocked expressions on their faces. It was then that Jiren surmised… maybe being a _little_ more open than usual breeds annoyance.

And then a frown settled on Kunshi's face. "Seriously?!"

"You had a wife?" Kettol asked.

"You were _married_ , Jiren!?" Dyspo's shock was more vocal, because even his voice cracked a bit in uptone.

"Yes." He plainly said. Now cue the sounds of _wonderment_ over something as simple as intimate commitment.

"Wow…"

"Dang."

"I did not see that coming." Vuon tilted his head. "You guys knew each this well?"

"We were married for centuries, if not more." Jiren looked down. Centuries felt like years to some people…

"Well shit…" Kunshi cocked his neck. "That's adorable though, that you guys knew each other that well."

Jiren lightly sighed because he lowkey felt like he had to explain himself again. Seeing Zoiray and Mirun, despite not liking the tiny tornado sasspants, sparked the smallest of interest, which was why he was still sitting here and acting like he didn't coexist with anyone. He doesn't particularly like talking about his wife and his life _far before_ this Universe, because she isn't here anymore.

 _Ooooh_ , that… took a depressing turn. I'll bring the mood up a notch, my bad.

"Guys look! He's holding her hand." Kunshi said.

"I hope he's not gonna like…" Vuon warily leaned forward. "Propose or something."

"I'd be damned if he did that." Dyspo shook his head. Zoiray wasn't that stupid… he thinks. Seriously though, he wasn't; the tiny Trooper was just looking at her bracelets.

"They look so pretty." Zoiray said, moving her wrist to catch it upon the incandescent lighting. "I'm surprised they fit you so well."

"Zoiray, you bought them for me." Mirun giggled. "You always know my tastes."

"Wow, he bought her bracelets too?" Kettol munched on a few chips, a pause before he spoke again. "What a sap."

"You gotta do what you gotta do as a man, y'know." Dyspo shrugged. "Like I said, this guy went _tits up_ over every detail in his house."

After more than a dozen minutes, their food came about and was plated in diamond-shaped ceramic dishes. Zoiray and Mirun smiled at one another, did this action that looked like bunting or clinking their horns together, and then they ate pliantly.

"So is this where we chat amongst each other like a commercial break?" Kettol finished his bag of chips. "Because now it'd be weird if we all sat here and watched them eat."

This whole setup they had was weird in itself but we won't talk about that.

"Right…" The hare agreed. "...So how is everyone doing?"

"Great." Vuon nodded, sarcasm _pouring_ out of his voice.

Dyspo gave him a cross look. "I'm trying to bridge a topic here."

"I mean, I'm good." Kunshi supplanted. "I woke up this morning, and got stuck in my bathtub."

"What…" Kettol blinked, looking Kunshi up and down. "How did you get stuck?"

"I saw that, asshole." Kunshi pointed at him with the cracked laugh.

"Alright but _how_?"

Vuon looked confused. "Yeah how did you get stuck… in a tub?"

"I mean I wasn't _stuck_ stuck but like… I was sitting for way too long, and then I got a butt cramp so I couldn't move."

That made Dyspo snort so damn loud, and the whole room- aside from Jiren- busted into snickers.

" _How long do you sit to get a butt cramp?!"_ The hare gaped at his bestie. "Were you in there for an hour."

He shrugged rapidly. "I dunno how long I was in there but I was in there for a while and I didn't expect the cramp to come so sudden. I don't even..."

"Geez man." Vuon giggled to himself. "Stop staying in baths for too long."

"I _try_." No he doesn't; to be fair you can't blame him, none of us try either. "Maybe I was in a weird position or some shit."

"That reminds me of the one time I leg fell asleep while I was in speed mode." Dyspo started laughing. "You remember that shit?"

Kettol caught on to his story. " _Yeah!_ You were about to hit Amoe and then we all saw you and him faceplant eachother." Amoe was a villain of which Dyspo, Kettol and a few other lesser known Troopers took down in planet Obard. "That was hilarious."

"Wait that was what happened?" Vuon frowned. "Your leg fell asleep?"

"Yeah, like mid-movement, I just felt it go numb and I was like 'aw fuck' and the we collided." Dyspo shook his head. "The other Troopers thought that that was a special move of mine but it was a complete accident."

"Is that where the 'Torpedo Headbang' thing came from? Oh my god…" Vuon cracked up. He remembered how there was talk of Dyspo's new attack in many of the bases at that time.

"It was."The hare snorted. "Dude had it coming too."

"So are you gonna coin that move?"

" _Sure_ , but it only happen once every rainbow moon." Dyspo sarcastically replied, now turning back to both Zoiray and Mirun because they appeared to be talking to one another again. Zoiray's hand has been inching closer and closer to Mirun's, and the woman was oblivious to it.

Maybe it was the scenery, the setting around them looking very much like an Amurian courtship dinner, but Zoiray felt like his thoughts couldn't be waived especially with the alone time the two had. The gang did say that they were all coming but after a while, Zoiray stopped worrying about that. In fact, the two of them had forgotten themselves and realized that they were still alone, but neither wished to breach the suspicion.

Zoiray pulled his hand away to glance upon the menu again, as if to hide the fact that he wanted to hold her hand again. "Honestly, if I were the one picking out the menu, I would've went with everything from the Industrials. Remember that?"

"We went there literally everyday after school." Mirun crossed her arms. "I can never forget about that. But would you?"

He looked at her. "Would I what?"

"Would you actually rent a place like this," Mirun gestured all around her, "For us to have dinner?"

 _Is that a trick question_? If he says yes then that would make him hella sus, and she'll think he'd have a crush on her and then she'll not want to talk to him anymore. But he didn't want to say no, he didn't want to lie to his bestfriend. He went for something in between instead. "I can make it happen."

"You _can_ or you _would_?"

Now she's pressing him. He was about to answer until he noted her dubious facial expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I know you'd spend all your money in the world for a single _brunch_ if I was involved." She smiled, and that accidentally made Zoiray blush a little bit. It sucks having a friend that knew you inside and out. "It's okay. I know something like this is really expensive-"

"No no, it's actually not." Zoiray started to reassure her thinking that she was saying that because she thought that he wouldn't spend money on a single dinner. Again, he's overthinking guys, _help him_. "I would totally rent a place like this- or even better- or us to have a nice dinner in. Anything you want."

Oh no no no, the last part was definitely sus. _Now she's suspecting_ , Zoiray thought. _Oh crap…_

"Is he okay?" Dyspo frowned. "Zoiray looks like he's about to implode under pressure."

"I think Mirun is pushing him to let his feelings out." Kettol literally got up to get _another_ bag of chips when he saw Zoiray starting to get nervous. He's evil. "This is hilarious."

"This is _not_ hilarious, Kettol!" Vuon could vouch for Zoiray's nervousness, it's the worst thing to _ever_ feel. "You ever had a situation where you were talking to your crush intimately?"

"Well yeah but," Kettol crunched loudly before he shrugged, "This is not me."

 _Selfish ass_ … Kunshi shook his head. "Mean."

"I'm positive… that these two will get through to one another tonight, like there's no way they can evade it." Dyspo leaned forward.

"I'll be surprised if they _don't_ mention it." Kunshi looked down and then turned to Jiren, who was now sitting away from everyone on a red beanbag chair. "So Jiren, if it doesn't hurt to ask, was your first date like this?"

He didn't fully turn his head but he addressed the question. "We did not have dates."

A blink. "How? Then how were you two a thing?"

"We saw other and that is about it." Jiren answered, but could _feel_ the confusion from all four of the men in the room. He decided to can the whole romanticism around courtship. "Our race has evolved far beyond the need to establish specific times in order to show intimacy."

That's a good enough of an answer for the others, honestly.

Mirun giggled, seeing her friend being frantic was funny but she did not want him to get the wrong idea. If Zoiray couldn't buy something for her, she wouldn't care; money and the amount of gifts she could get really does not matter to her, that might sound contradictory because Mirun grew up getting so many things for herself and getting many gifts by other people. Of course with time, people change, and Mirun has far learned to appreciate the people that could bring so much with so little.

We all need people like that. It humbles us down sometimes.

"You don't need to do so much to make me happy, Zoiray." She smiled at him, looking into his eyes now. "You already do."

 _Okay, who's fucking with the thermostat now?_ "Well, I know that but…" he couldn't account for all of his spending habits lately. "I felt like you'd want souvenirs to keep with you if you were to ever leave."

"Come on, you know I may love having gifts and all, but not at the expense of another person." Mirun placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I just want you to know that I appreciate everything you do, even if it's nothing. I think you deserve the absolute best." She figured that this would make her friend come out a little, he was still in his shell. It did, but Zoiray was still afraid of possibly losing his friendship over liking her too much.

How deep into the sauce do you have to be to think a simple crush could destroy _years_ of friendship?

"I think you deserve the best too." Zoiray twiddled his fingers, casting his gaze downwards every now and then. He hasn't been this intimate in so long, all of what he's saying sounds like a foreign mouth speaking for him. "Like someone who really admires and loves you, somebody who's there all the time to cheer you up, you know…"

Mirun cut straight to the case? "Like you?"

"OHHH SHIT!" Dyspo got so hype, he was now hopping in his chair a bit. "Y'all _saw_ that?!"

Of course they did, everybody was hanging in their seats listening to these two. Kunshi smiled. "I friggin' love Mirun, man. She's keen."

"She _knows_ already so of course she'd be keen." Kettol kicked his feet out and propped them on top of one another.

Zoiray's voice got real quiet. "H-huh?"

Like the goodhearted soul she was, she lightly giggled at his shyness and then patted his shoulder. "Like you, Zoiray. You said I deserved the best, and there's really nothing better than you."

"...Than me?"

" _Yes,_ than you!" The woman scooted over. "I want you to know that, I've come to listen to your voice, and to hear you speak, and to watch you grow and… I can't help but admire you more and more. This is beyond our friendship." She held his hand, this man is going to be purple by the end of the night. "You haven't heard something like that in forever, now is the time for you to know."

That was sort of like code language for the others, but Mirun basically outed how she felt about him without actually saying it. It took Dyspo and the others a while to figure it out, and Zoiray paused in this time, digesting every word she said to him.

"Dang… this is actually pretty deep." Kunshi speculated. "I think, if this does work, they would be a great couple."

"It will work." Vuon acclaimed, because these two were _so close_ literally nothing can botch this up. "Just watch."

Zoiray slowly looked back up at her, and spoke in a mix of his own language, and Netfiss' national tongue. " _Mirun... I feel the exact same way about that. Like I've watched how you've matured over the years, and seriously cannot help but feel a different way- deeper even. I mistaken it as friendship but I'm starting to think that it's much more than that_." Switching to the language that everyone can understand, now he was in his zone, he poured everything out to her. "If anything, it's a sign that we should evolve, become more than friends since I know how you feel, but it's been more… intense for a long time. I feel like a deer, in the headlights of love… my soul is always set aflame everytime I'm with you." His hand hugged hers, the one with the bracelet on. "And I cannot feel like I'm flying, if it is anyone besides you."

Pretty much everybody cringed like shit hearing that. Vuon scrunched his face. "Oh god, what the fuck is he saying?"

"What is all that supposed to mean?" Kunshi blinked twice. "Have we fucked up?"

"Nah, _he's_ fucked up, we're good." Kettol turned to Jiren, knowing the guy had a thing against Zoiray. "How you doing over there, big guy?"

He had no reaction, even though he inwardly could clench fists at how ANNOYING Zoiray's voice is coupled with such weighted words. "Fine."

"You guys… man..." Dyspo was holding in his laugh. "Is it me or this funny _just_ because of the fact that he's purposely lowering his high pitched voice?"

While everyone else agreed wholeheartedly, Jiren's left eye twitched.

There was long pause, Mirun stared at him and he stared at her, and the guys seriously thought that that big ass monologue would make the Amurian get up and leave anytime sooner out of awkwardness. Instead, Mirun's face flushed with so much affection and she tightened her hold around Zoiray's hand.

"Oh good gosh, Zoiray I… I can't be more than happy that you feel that way, honey!"

The entire lobby room was filled with dubious sounds, and Dyspo loudly saying ' _WHAAT?'_ "Wait that's _actually_ romantic?!"

"You gotta be kidding me." Vuon shook his head, incredulous. "So Zoiray actually had the juice?"

"Apparently so." Kunshi shrugged, he was just as shocked as the others. "Looks like they both finally outed to one another-"

"Wait wait, look…" Kettol caught the others' attention, pointing to the screen.

"It's because I like you." Zoiray shrunk as quickly as that came out of his mouth. Even though Mirun practically said the same thing, he still felt weirded out.

But she coaxed him, made him comfortable to face the reality of his situation; that Mirun reciprocate his feelings back, and that they were taking their relationship to the next level. "I like you too." A meaningful pause, before the two got real close before they bunted horns, and chaste kissed each other.

" _Awwww_ this is so cute!" Kunshi took a picture at that _exact_ moment. Excited, he saved it into his gallery for later use; you know, when he tells the others that it's official, but he didn't think of that.

Dyspo was still a tiny bit shocked because again, this was a side of Zoiray the others and he didn't know about. He really didn't expect this to work as quick as it did, but luck had graced the tiny Trooper with a female friend that ended up mirroring his affection for her. For some reason, he was reminded of Toppo, because if Toppo saw this the guy would literally have this dreamy look on his face, as if remembering the times when he and his wife too would kiss.

He's like a grandfather to everybody so that imagery was amusing.

"Well guys, looks like our work here is done." Vuon clapped his hands. "Give yourselves a pat on your shoulders."

"We can turn this off right?" Kettol asked, stretching. "These two are gonna be all lovey dovey and with what Zoiray said- I really don't want to cringe to death tonight."

No one could see Jiren's face, but he was agreeing to that statement.

"Right." The hare reached for the remote, which was a touch screen, and it was resting against the small table behind him. He was too lazy to turn around and grab it like a proper person so he stretched his arm backward to pick it up, accidentally tapping a button while doing so.

A loud beeping sound can be hear on the video, which was coming from the tiny camera, and it made both Zoiray and Mirun pause and look around.

"OH FUCK!" Dyspo jumped and out of fret pulled his arm away. Kunshi casted a glare at him.

"Dyspo I _swear_ we already made it. If you _fuck this up_ …"

"My bad, my bad!" He quickly took the remote normally this time and turned the camera off. "Look, at least they couldn't place where it was coming from."

"But what if they do?" Vuon leaned back.

Jiren answered that question for everyone. "Then it's a camera stationed for the diner's security."

This guy is a thousand levels of IQ above everybody. Dyspo snapped his fingers and pointed at the resting Grey. " _There we go_."

"I'm off now guys." Kunshi stood up and stretched his poor cracked back before leaving the lobby room. "G'night."

Kettol looked at Kunshi. "You're tired already?"

"Yep." He nodded. "Been up for a while, I wanna sleep."

"Well, goodnight man." Dyspo waved at him, and then when he left turned his attention to the two guys who were involved right now. "...You guys wanna watch a movie?"

Vuon and Kettol paused for no reason, it's kind of a thing that comes _only_ whenever someone pitches for a movie. Ever notice that? But the two guys in question decided it wouldn't hurt them to watch a movie after literally watching two individuals accidentally have their first date. It's not spying.

"I'm down." Kettol stood up. "Lemme get another bag of chips."

 _Geez_. "Me too." Vuon moved his seat to where Dyspo was, which was right in front of the screen. "Your choice."

"You all are the worst."

Cocotte sat all the culprits of the _espionage act_ down a couple days after Zoiray and Mirun's surprise date. She called Dyspo and said he needed to bring _every single person_ involved in spying on her friend, because Kunshi's smart ass accidentally sent her the image the night before, basically outing them on their scheme.

Dyspo was the first to justify their actions. "We weren't hurting anybody, Coco."

"Yeah but you were _spying_." Cocotte wagged her finger in front of all of them. "That's not okay."

Vuon raised a finger. "Wait… you said all of us." He pointed to the _extra_ of the four of them. "It was only our idea, why is Jiren involved?"

"Because Jiren was there with you. Speaking of which;" Cocotte sauntered over to the unbothered Grey, who looked at her boredly. "Why didn't you stop them?"

"They simply wanted to see if the two would actually stay at the venue." He calmly explained, his smooth voice rolling like butter. "That is all."

"But that stuff is creepy, Jiren." Cocotte crossed her arms. "Even though if- yes they are together now and I'm proud, that's unethical."

"It was a harmless deed planned by them, not me." The Grey crossed his arms. "I do not understand why you look upon me for this."

"You're the most sensible out of those four."

"Excuse you?!" Vuon sat up. "Listen, I'm sure you would _definitely_ tune in to watch how the two were too. Don't front."

"I would _never_ do that." Cocotte whipped her head to the dinosaur. "Never. Zoiray and Mirun deserve to be intimate in privacy."

"It's not like we recorded them in Zoiray's suite doing strange things or anything, it was at a restaurant." Kettol said, and Dyspo was reminded of the Tic-Tac comment he made not so long ago. "They ate, and then they confessed."

"Who confessed?"

Even though the voice involved did not sound like Zoiray, almost everybody jumped out of guilt. It was just Kahseral walking in with Tupper. Tupper greeted them all. "Hey, guys."

"Afternoon, gentlemen." Vuon smiled. "How's it going?"

"Everything's been fine." Kahseral tilted his head and crossed his arms. "We just came here because a certain someone lost his single card recently."

You would think the smartest possible idea was to get _Kahseral_ and _Tupper_ , the only two people currently in a relationship. He only got the _most single_ guys out of the bunch (except for Toppo, kind of) to get Zoiray a date, and it took them literally three damn weeks.

"So you showed _everybody_?" Dyspo looked at Kunshi.

The polka dot Trooper shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt for the others to know as well."

"Zoiray doesn't _know_ that everyone knows!" Dyspo articulated comically while speaking. "He's gonna raise hell on me for this!"

"It's your fault." Cocotte shrugged with a tiny smile. "You're the one who told everybody."

" _But_ like, why not say that you all _suspected_ it, rather than making me sound untrustworthy?"

"In this circumstance," Jiren broke in, looking at Dyspo, "You were untrustworthy."

 _As if the world wanted to watch the Netfiss base burn_ , Zoiray walks right in as Jiren said his piece, and nobody noticed because he is fucking tiny. "Did somebody say untrustworthy?"

It was an ironically innocent question Zoiray asked, but everybody went quiet when they heard his voice. The tiny Trooper didn't look as sarcastic as he normally did, rather he had a spring in his step today. He jumped onto the table and crossed his arms to look at Jiren. "Did somebody leak something about you, Jiren?"

Good thing it was Jiren he asked. Jiren didn't answer him with words, he just shook his head as if saying ' _not me'_.

"Good afternoon, Zoiray." Tupper could laugh his _ass_ off at how suspect everyone else looked right now. "How you've been?"

"I've been great. Woke up a few hours ago, I wanted to fly over here." He sat down on the table.

"How's Mirun?" Kahseral asked, noting everybody else's attitude at the moment. They are dicks for this.

"She's fine." He answered with a smile, like an actual smile and not a smug grin. "She's at my house right now probably watching something."

"That's great. That's great to hear."

Maybe it's best to be transformative, and ease the topic of Zoiray and Mirun's date so that they didn't look like they weren't hiding a secret of a secret. At least that way Zoiray, sitting calmly on the marble table, would stop slightly frowning at everybody in the room-

Too late. "So how come you all weren't present for the dinner party?"

Cocotte frowned. She knew Kunshi had a picture of the two kissing, but she didn't think that what happened was an event planned for everybody, nor did she know about it. "What dinner party?"

"The one… there was a dinner party planned by everyone in this room." Zoiray was confused. "Yeah, you guys didn't show up so we spent the whole night together. Umm… how come you didn't know about this?"

"You guys had a dinner party and didn't tell us?" Kahseral turned to the four biggest culprits in the room right now, who were all hella silent.

"Not to mention you lot didn't even attend it?" Tupper looked between the suspicious faces, just as Kahseral and Cocotte and Zoiray did. He narrowed his eyes. "What was really going on here?"

"I was told about it by Jiren." Zoiray recalled, casting a look at the silent Grey who purposely closed his eyes and crossed his arms. In the Grey's head, he was _hoping_ his name would not be mentioned, because if it was, Cocotte would grill him again.

And grill, she did. " _Jiren…_ "

He opened his eyes, annoyed as fuck.

"You were in cahoots with them?"

"Partially." He didn't feel the need to lie. "They all knew that Zoiray would not attend if he knew that it'd be for him and Mirun, so Dyspo lied and reserved and empty table aside from theirs."

"What does me having to know about you all coming… have to do with whether I want to attend?" Zoiray got suspicious and slowly turned to Dyspo.

The hare decided to come clean now, at least to save face. "Alright look... I may or may not have planned for you two to be together after you've told me. But I swear I wasn't doing it out of spite, I just thought that you guys would be happy together and didn't want you to mess it up out of anxiety."

The tiny Trooper's voice was pretty quite. "You got us two alone?"

Dyspo, after a pause, responded timidly. "...Yes..."

Zoiray paused. So… what Dyspo was saying, was that he had been trying to get the two together ever since Mirun's arrival. Zoiray has not seen Dyspo being avidly around them, which was a reasonable thing to do much like Cocotte did; Cocotte had got to know Mirun very well the moment the woman started getting familiar with Netfiss' atmosphere. It would make more sense for Cocotte to be the one to bridge the two together for that simple fact alone, but Dyspo is the only one who heard Zoiray say his crush right out of his mouth. He may or may not have used Cocotte as a relay, or someone who gives out information on something. The hare has been mostly laissez-faire, and the look on Kunshi, Kettol, and Vuon's faces said something else; Dyspo himself was staying away so that the others could watch over both he and Mirun, while the hare kept tabs on every single thing they do together concurrently keeping away from looking sus.

Since it is apparent that those _five_ pitched in for this expensive dinner, not to mention how tight-lipped Kahseral and Tupper were aside from the dinner party thing, that meant that Dyspo told every goddamn person in room about his crush.

Zoiray shook his head; from all the effort they put into this, he couldn't get mad even if he wanted to. "You motherfuckers… so all of you knew?"

A pause, before there was a multitude of 'yes's and 'mmhmm's.

There was a dumbass smile on his face. "You really didn't need to go through so much trouble."

"We did." Dyspo nodded, now simmering down because Zoiray wasn't upset. The small Trooper was grateful. "You're stubborn."

"Shut up, I would've brought it to her attention if it weren't for you all." Zoiray proclaimed. Almost instantly the entire room progressively filled with very suspicious coughs. "I _would have_!"

The door opened and in peeked a pink face, tiny hands holding onto the door. "Is Zoiray in here?" Mirun didn't have to look too long to see him. "Hey!"

Zoiray waved even though he had just raised his voice. "Afternoon h-Mirun."

"What are you all congregating about?" She smiled at the others. She looked at Zoiray's face. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just…" Since they made it official a couple nights ago, he'd have no problem stating the newfound information he just got. "I told Dyspo that I liked you, and apparently everyone else knew like immediately after."

Mirun blinked, and then shrugged. "Yeah, I did too."

" _Wat?_ " Zoiray went blank faced, ignoring the sound of Kettol snorting quietly. "What do you mean?"

"I knew you liked me before you told me, Zoiray." She leaned into his shoulder, cascading into a laugh. "Cocotte brought it to my attention beforehand!"

 _Now_ everybody looked at Cocotte, and here is Dyspo standing up with his arms crossed and leaning towards her when her reaches her at arm's length. " _ **Hmmmm?**_ "

"What is that we hear, Cocotte?" Kunshi held his hand to an ear. "You _told_ Mirun he liked her? You did this _before_ we planned the dinner date?"

"...What this supposed to be a secret?" Mirun looked at the others, then held her mouth with her hand. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Mirun. It's just that _this_ woman here," Vuon pointed at Cocotte, "has been busting our chops for setting up youse's venue."

"All the while literally outing Zoiray's crush to the one person who shouldn't know." Dyspo leaned all the way to Cocotte's side, making her smack his arm.

"If that's the case, then she meant no harm. She knows that I admire my friend." Mirun leaned forward to look at Zoiray and she just bursted into laughter. "Zoiray, honey _breathe!"_

"Good _god_ , is he okay?!" Tupper caught on to Zoiray's face, the tiny man's face was _beet red_.

He could still form words but now Mirun was fanning him because she reckoned steam will come out of his nose. "I didn't… know you knew, Mirun…"

"I did- well, when I was told of it, it was… written all over your face." Mirun admitted, but she reconciled again. "But it's okay Zoiray! I didn't find it embarrassing or anything!"

Again, Amurians can be seen as very blunt people and Zoiray hasn't been accustomed to that for years now. So coupled with everyone else's snickers and giggles, Zoiray's voice went a meek, ball-squeezing pitch. "Mirun, that's not… please don't."

"It's fine man. We all act out when our crush is around." Kunshi tossed his hand lightheartedly. Mirun nodded at Kunshi while squeezing her new boyfriend's shoulder to comfort him.

"Next time, I'll lower the Amurian bluntness." Mirun's jokeful remark made Zoiray play-toss her hand off of him. She quickly felt two eyes, two very big ones peeping the both of them. Mirun turned to the one individual watching them play fight, which made everyone else pause for a moment to look at who they were looking at. Mirun broke the silence when the man blinked. "Something wrong, Jiren?"

Zoiray raised a brow. "You good over there?"

Jiren silently looked between the two small individuals. He looked at the Zoiray, the blue male Trooper, and Mirun, the pink Amurian woman, and he said in the _plainest, flattest_ voice possible. "Cotton candy."

At the unexpected joke, the guys cracked a snicker and Cocotte almost choked on her own laugh.

He lost all the blushed in his face, straight the Grey for… Zoiray couldn't even tell if Jiren was trying to be funny or not. " _Really_? That's immature."

Mirun looked really confused. "What is cotton candy?"

 _Oh boy_ … Dyspo explained it to her. "It's just a pink and blue cottonlike treat."

"Ohhh." Then the pink woman looked at Jiren. "Is it because of our skin?"

It's even funnier because Mirun was taking a bit too long to get the joke, if it even was that. Jiren nodded.

"I think everything's in light hearts, guys." Kahseral settled everyone down. "Does Toppo know about this?"

"I would imagine he does." Tupper raised a brow. "The guy is probably heading here now."

Toppo was actually. He, Belmod and Khai were discussing something while making their way to the Netfiss Base. He had received the image too and wasn't going there for that particular reason, but all three of them were completely unaware that the others were there already.

Once they walked in, they saw a whole congregation consisting of all of the team plus Mirun, and Toppo could already place what this was all about. The Troopers noticed the team, the Destroyer, and the God walk in and all greeted happily. This was the first time Belmod and Khai actually saw Mirun and they _both_ had to admit… _this young woman was adorable._

"Good afternoon to you all." Toppo waved to the others. "How has it been?"

"Zoiray found out. Mirun found out. Things are cool now." Kahseral briefed all that has transpired ever since the inception of this get-together, just so I don't have to summarize it all. That's nice of him.

"Ah, so you two are an item now?" Toppo turned to the two tiny people. Mirun was the most confident, because she answered brightly.

"Mmhmm, we are." She smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. Toppo."

Toppo smiled. "You can drop the formalities with me."

"Wait…" Tupper breached, after a moment of silence. "Dyspo, what if everything that had transpired didn't happen? Like what if Mirun didn't like him?"

The hare blinked. "Huh?"

"Yeah, what if he wasn't lucky- sorry." Kunshi regarded Zoiray after asking.

"Oh well," Dyspo shrugged it off with a smile, "I'd just go with Plan B."

"What was your plan B then?" Zoiray leaned forward, shadily inquisitive; he really wanted to hear this.

Dyspo... didn't actually have a Plan B, so he had to think up a Plan B. The first 'idea' that popped into his mind made him go silent; even though it's of every single cliche crush situation on shows, the sudden idea became cringeworthy rather than a comical cop-out.

"Well, Dyspo?"

It was the only thing on his mind, so He had to say it. "...I would pretend to like you so that Mirun could get jealous."

Almost immediately the entire room objected to the idea, with Kunshi being the first to react. "UMMM..."

Meanwhile, Zoiray almost exploded. "ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?"

"EXCUSE _YOU_?!" Cocotte followed suit but she wasn't that upset or anything. The idea was just hella… _dumb_.

Much like Cocotte did earlier, Zoiray was now more than ready to wind kick the fuck out of the hare but his girlfriend held him back. The _idea…_ of Dyspo trying to _flirt_ with him, knowing he liked his bucktooth ass the least, was utterly disgusting. Imagine that; a purple hare, trying to woo the tiny ram…

 _ **Hell no.**_

"You know, earlier this week Dyspo," Vuon started, "I was convinced, I was _really really_ convinced, that you were a smart person."

"How _were you convinced?_ " Kunshi furrowed his brows.

"Listen it was the first thing that came in my head okay!" Dyspo admitted. " It's the last thing I would do, you all _know_ that! _Eww_."

"Eww is right! _Ugh_ , I got shivers." Zoiray cringed. "You'd have to be lying out your ass. That can't be your Plan B… Mirun?"

Mirun was oddly silent, but not in a sense of embarrassment at how genius Dyspo's idea was. She looked to be _pensive_. "Hmm?"

Zoiray frowned. "Why are you so quiet?"

She blushed like mad.

"What's that about?' Dyspo asked, albeit warily since they _just_ hinged off the topic of his weird backup plan.

There was silence in the room. Whether or not Mirun was joking or actually considering her next words was up to everyone else to figure out, but she spoke quietly enough for all to hear. "...I think it'd be cute…"

And then the room went _really_ silent. And then Zoiray slowed turned to his girlfriend and inhaled…

"HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH A THING?!" His face was riddled with abashment, just about as much as Dyspo's was. "DO YOU NOT SEE HIM?!"

"'EY!" Dyspo went from shocked, to offended. "It's not my fault you're tiny!"

Listen, that phrasing can go both ways. All of you have dirty minds if you think otherwise.

"Oh Y-" Zoiray grabbed the nearest object he could see -which was the glass plate centerpiece of one of the end tables- and went to chug it at Dyspo's face, but the man himself already ducked and ran off before Zoiray could exact his aim. Meanwhile, everyone else was trying to calm Zoiray down; he had unfortunately saw what Dyspo said as a double meaning: one for his height, the other for his… _other height_.

It was like the older, more involved men of the group simultaneously had the same opinion when they shook their heads at the younger ones. Toppo let a chuckle slip from his mouth while Khai smiled at how innocent and extra these mortals were.

Belmod shook his head with his arms crossed, all in a lighthearted mise. "You all are something else..."

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **These two chapters are pretty tame compared to everything else that has occurred ever since this collection's inception. Any new installments are probably gonna be uhh… not as sensical as this one, even though this one was 20% ish more sensical XD.**

 **Alriiiight, that might be it for this entire year, I dunno if I'm gonna get around to uploading anytime before Christmas so this is gonna be an early ass Merry Christmas in advance. :) See you all in the next one.**


	23. So Basically

**It's New Years right now, who has** _ **time**_ **to think when they have time to** _ **drink**_ **? ...Well, that's not for all of you, some of y'all under 21. Don't drink if you're under 21, I'm not advocating that shit. Aside from that, I'm aware of Khai's romanized name being spelled different, or as Cae/Cai. Let's just** _ **pretend**_ **that it's still Khai because the two are technically pronounced the same and because… I dunno, I like the older spelling. But in the future, I'll stick to his dub name.**

 **This chapter in particular is aimed to the people who get so preoccupied in whether or not they could do something, they didn't stop to think if they should.**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

 **So Basically...**

 **.₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪.**

You ever had a really bad idea, and then you mull over it for a long time until becomes a good idea, but then it doesn't turn out the way it did in your head?

Khai was no stranger to that. He was no stranger to the adage of thought process, of hypothesis and observation, of trial and error. In fact, he was one of those sciency people that loved testing and proving, that much is shown with the geometry of Universe 11's galaxies, most of which were purposely positioned to be easily contactable amongst the mortals of his world.

But... here's the thing; Khai is a _weird_ person, we _all_ can infer this; He had the mind to create a ray to turn anyone into a _fetus_ when there is no need for such a device. For the most part, he's weird in that way because he can be. He has the privilege to do much of what a lot of mortals can't do with his power, so who's to say that he can't let that quirky, testy, curious side free every once in a while? Khai is a Kaioshin, and he'll live for a very very long time, so there's always room for letting the formalities loose on occasions.

Like last night, where he sat down in his Kaishin realm on one of his palace-like beds, staring outside into the deep purple sky wondering to himself… _how much alcohol does it take for me to get inebriated?_

Because when you're a fucking God, you get bored and do stupid shit. You can relate, dammit.

The initial thing he did the following day, after spending hours in his universe's time observing his creations, was look around for a proper room for his experiment to take place. There was one particular place that resembled a large, spacey kitchen, except there was no fridge because why store food when you can just freshly create it, and the cabinets had neatly organized tableware, silverware, and things of that nature. He had a special cabinet, just sitting adjacent to the main cabinets that was lined in shining silver, filled with his _tea_ essentials. Khai may be the creator of his universe, but being powerful doesn't come with a cap on being _boujee_.

This room was where he would test his metabolism, he made sure that both Belmod and Marcarita were out of the clear for any meetings they would need for the day, even going as far as telling Belmod that he was going to be some 'special renovations' to his palace.

" _And what's gotta do with me, Khai?"_

" _Oh, well," the kind Kaioshin smiled, "I wouldn't want anyone disturbing the process. That's all, just wanted to inform you on such."_ He wasn't even lying with that statement too.

Now alone and inquisitive, Khai set out to looking at his holy-GPS (there has to be a better word for it); it was basically a table that showed him each and every sector in the Universe. He inquired upon the most renowned bars, and specified the bars with the heaviest arsenals. There were now only shy of a hundred of the _billions_ of bars that he could choose from, and he went with one located deep in Southern Kanpin; _The Wild E's_ , since they also hold a promising range of the universe's strongest liquor.

Instant teleportation into the country upon this bar's location, and Khai was hit with the cool wind of Kanpin's southern currents which would _not_ very forgiving to any foreigners in the country. The sky was pretty dark, but it was definitely before dusk, and the Wild E's looked to be not bustling, but at a comfortable capacity at the moment. That was perfect, he didn't need mortals to hassle him about hurrying up to make his _simple_ order.

When Khai entered said bar, the people sitting and chatting amongst each other did not expect to see a short, well-prepped elegant strutting white haired guy walking straight up to the grand bartender as if he's been here thousands of times. Everyone's eyes followed Khai up until he approached the bartender's counter, who also gave him a questioning, but mildly critical look.

The Kaioshin removed his closed fists from his back to prop them against the countertop, slightly leaning forward while still maintaining his affluent grace through his voice. "Good evening."

The bartender could've been quicker on that simple exchange, but he's never seen _anybody_ dressed the way Khai was. With the way Khai walked and talked, you would _never_ find somebody of his stature to be breathe near a bar, so the bartender blinked twice before returning the greet. "Good evening."

Khai nodded, and went right in with what he wanted. "May I have seven kegs of your strongest liquor?"

This was where the other fellow bartenders turned to the small God with _very questioning_ looks. Khai had a small frame, this guy didn't even reach the tall bartender's chest, it didn't look like he could handle half a bottle of _sangria._ Not to mention, you go to a bar for a mug or a shot or even a bottle or two or ten, but not a _keg_ of your desired beverage, that's just weird.

Again, Khai is a weird person. It's expected.

" _Kegs_?" He had to ask, the main bartender blinked again.

Khai nodded, resolute in his answer. "Yes, kegs. I don't require a certain taste, I just want the strongest drinks in your cellar."

The strongest drinks in this particular bar, should only be taken in _shots_. You can't even have a full highball of them because of how strong they are, anyone would die from that. The bartender now frowned. "How many people are you trying to get drunk?"

"Me."

A _grand_ pause, both the man's eyebrows went all the way up his forehead. "... _You?_ _Seven kegs?_ "

A nod. "Yes."

Another pause. "I can't just... give you seven kegs of liquor, sir." The bartender shook his head. "The strongest of liquors are the most expensive, and we don't even solicit full bottles of those brands for their aging."

"Yes you can."

Khai's sudden confidence made the man go silent for two seconds. He tilted his head, now this proper buttoned-up short stack wants to test him? "And what makes you say that?"

He laid down the truth to that answer with a simple, yet daring sentence. "I'm a God."

His fellow bartenders got a load of that sentence with cocked necks and dubious looks. "Really?" The bartender tossed a finger against his long mustache, hand now upwards with his fingers loosely clenched. He pointed at Khai and looked at his coworkers, they were amused. "Alright then. Gimme uhh… hmm, let's see," He _pretended_ to ponder, humoring Khai's claim, "Give me a millions worth in coins."

This bartender has _quite_ a sense of humor. Khai is a Kaioshin; he has the ability to produce whole solar systems with planets that provide the adequate atmospheres for the species' _he_ chooses in mere days, so he didn't even need to raise a finger to do what this guy asked him to do. In fact, he didn't even breath or say a magic word; he did absolutely nothing over than look him dead in the eyes.

"Look in that empty cellar box."

 _Now_ the bartender was spooked, because the cellar boxes did not have glass doors, meaning that nobody can _see_ whether or not they were empty. And also, only one cellar box out of the four were empty, and Khai _specifically_ said 'that' cellar box which showed that he knew which one it was. The other bartenders exchanged looks while the main one went to the cellar on the bottom right, which was up to the man's waist so he had to bend down. He opened it, and found the empty cellar filled with golden coins, stacked so neatly that the man was afraid to touch them in fear of making everything fall out.

Long short short, they give Khai a good seven kegs of their strongest liquor out of the back door of their bar. He didn't have to promise them anything, because once he left, they found a brand new, fresh liquor keg set had already replaced the ones Khai took.

Do not ask of how suspect he looked _carrying_ those kegs and then teleporting right out of sight to anyone who accidentally passed by and saw the spectacle. Within mere minutes of the interaction, one of the rooms in the Kaishin palace had the kegs situated side-by-side on top of a countertop, all while Khai walked in front of each and every keg. He went to the farthest right of the countertop and took a test sip of the first keg by pulling down the little level and pouring it into a teacup and _yes_ , he used a fucking _teacup_ to taste liquor.

...First of all, it tastes like the back of his shoe… not saying that he ever _tasted_ the back of his shoe but it just did not taste nice. _Second_ , he felt like he disrespected his last cup of chamomile tea by using a fine, delicate chalice for such a hard, unforgiving beverage.

He could've taken wine but comparatively, wine was much weaker on the system when compared to liquor, especially the ones right in front of him. Three of them were what's rarely known as a _tar label_ , colloquially meaning they were aged to the point where you'd pass out from a single shot, and that's _just_ what Khai needed. And unlike his usual tea drinking custom, where he'd savor the taste and drink with patience, he had to be as savage as Shinjinly possible; meaning, he's gotta down _glasses and mugs back to back._

The Shinjin were built with a very very high alcohol tolerance. Well, that's only if they aren't damn near _breathing_ liquors with the equivalent of 300 proof in them. If any of us drank that we'd be dead.

Khai ran through an entire keg terrifyingly quick, and it wasn't immediately doing anything to his impenetrable immune system. He knew that the key to really testing this out, given his biological composition, was to _have no remorse for his godly kidneys_ ; he had to be a _sinkhole_ in order for these drinks to take effect.

In essence, that's what he was. He regally dropped the beer keg back on the countertop and then went to the next, picking it up with ease just to pop the top cap off and down it with no respect to the marble floors. He highly doubted that even the slightest of changes would happen even if he drank as fast as he did now, because he was Kai, and he had nothing to worry about when it came to alcohol.

... _Actually_ , alcohol does affect them, but it does so in a weird way. He'll figure that out later.

After his second keg, he stopped to breathe for a moment and instantly made a noise while sticking out a flexing his tongue: goodness, these two liquors tasted like straight tree bark. Shaking his head at the taste, the god looked to the next five, not because he was afraid of their alcohol composition, but because he hoped they weren't as bad as these two. Upon his third, he opened the top cap and sniffed which is… unlike him but that _not_ because of the alcohol, trust me. He caught whiff of a smell very distinct from the initial two; it was strong but it smelled kind of sweet even, like there was a lace of molasses or something. He wasted no time in drinking it too, and once he finished he nearly gagged because _bitch that shit wasn't sweet at all._

 _That_ keg, out of the other seven, was a freaking catfish; he thought it'd be the most forgiving one but instead, it tasted like roasted asphalt. The only one he actually really liked was the fifth keg, named Sunrise, which was a citrus tasting rum. This particular drink is a favorite amongst the mortals because of its sweet composition _however_ , it is dangerous as hell singly because of that. So he saved that one at the very end as a way to recuperate his now abused taste buds.

Once he had reached and his last one, Khai placed the seventh keg down with a bit more force than he did with his first keg, and he took a moment to note any changes in his body. There seriously was _no_ glaring difference in his actions, even his vision and motor functions were fine. He looked to his saved keg, and decided to be regal enough to conjure a jumbo jug and a tumbler, filling the jug with the Sunset rum for later, and then savagely downing the rest of the keg. Khai basically plopped it down and then went to sit down on one of the counter stools, conjuring a towel to telekinetically clean up the mess he made. He waited afterwards, for a minute or two, or ten, to notice any signs of him getting drunk.

Someone should really let him know that, if you decide to chug down a large amount of alcohol, it's going to be a _lot_ harder to tell when you're drunk. Khai, and his race, are not exempt to the rule. There are about six phases to being drunk; you drink an entire keg in like twenty seconds, and you skip the first eight.

Khai on the other hand, when he went back to his normal routine of making tea thinking nothing really happened, didn't realize how positive he was about the entire action. He always was positive when it came to making tea, but tonight he felt it on a whole other level: the man had never in his life, and he will swear on his white boots, danced to anything, ever. Even the classic 'wave my candle in the air' thing he wouldn't do, because Shinjin created humans and other sapients for that kind of shit since they themselves were as stiff as trees. Don't ask why Khai was really bobbing his head while thinking about a melody he heard around forty thousand years ago.

He also slid back into his seat with the tea cup handled from his _thumb_. Now, to all of my fellow _seasoned_ tea drinkers, you don't _ever_ put your thumb _through_ the damn handle, it's only put on top of the handle to balance the cup, and sober Khai would've smacked himself seeing this kind of foolery. He had his entire thumb just through the handle and was drinking it a _wee_ less conservative than normal. He did however, place it directly in the middle of the saucer (it's a pet peeve of his when others don't center their cup), and just stared ahead while tapping his fingers against the table.

Khai found great amusement in watching the tree outside the room's large window rustle. At the same time, he was somewhere else in his head too, like in a different world; he wasn't thinking much or anything but strangely enough, he was... dazed. And then his whole body became warm, and the fabric of his clothing felt so cozy and smooth against his ever-softening skin. Now getting up and getting closer to look outside became more intriguing, especially because the air was so crispy feeling- _ooh_ it was calming and peaceful.

His interest in the trees left as fleeting as it came, mind you this happened over the course of a couple hours or so, and _now_ the man went into his cabinets to look into them. It wasn't an absent minded action, in this state of mind he had realized he was forgetting something. The Kaioshin had a few moments of muttering 'where is it' and 'wait' or some version of one of those phrases here and there, he checked the bottom cabinets, the sink, and even the trashbin for this item. This man went to the countertop where sat his teacup and things. He lifted the upside down cup _and_ the saucer, moving it out of the way as if it was blocking the already nearly cleared surface. He grabbed the kettle right next to his cup and saucer and lifted it, stared at it for two long seconds, and then turned around and looked away for a minute or two. And then he got confused again. "Where the heck is it?"

You guys, he was looking for his _tea kettle_. It's _in his hand._

Another few minutes passed by with a confused Khai, still holding the kettle, looking around the kitchen for his novelty tea essential. Of course he could always create it again, but this kettle had sentimental value to him so he would always treasure it.

 _Soo…_ he had lost the kettle, sitting _exposed on the countertop_ , that he literally used like… ten, twenty minutes ago? He didn't know how long, time is a shifty bitch.

He looked into the same cabinets again, this time pushing the kettle out of the way and stepping onto the countertop because he's short and sticking his head into the cabinet, like the kettle was just hiding somewhere in there. In the middle of that spiel, his other hand had lost grip of the kettle, and he was surprised to hear a loud clunking sound of pearlescent metal against marble. Khai straightened up, and held the door to the cabinet to look down at the countertop finding what he's been looking for.

Apparently, he had no idea he was holding it the whole time, so he ended up looking to the cabinet next to him thinking if it slipped out from there.

"How were you even here in the first place? I literally checked this entire countertop." Khai jumped down from said countertop just to glare at the tea kettle as if it chose to 'hide' from him. "I didn't even put you there in first place-wait…" This is where his self-actualization takes place, _was I holding it the entire time?_

He paused in everything he did, from moving to his thought process, and realized that his toes were teetering slightly. Much of the alcohol's effects were more mental than physical, so he may look normal to anyone else on the outside once you discount the fact that he's chuckling to himself a bit and speaking in a way that was very unlike him.

"Man, I'm drunk." Was all he said, before he giggled and then shook his head.

Drunk Khai was… quite a character, even more so than he already is. Normally he was a kind man; reserved, sweet, maintaining a divo-like air to him, yet being expertly shady when he needed to. There were times where he was mean or snappy, but he always maintained a formal timbre at all times regardless. He knew his limits, and he knew when to stop something if it had gotten too far. The drunk version of him though, with all the alcohol still loading into his system, had forgotten that the word 'go' had an antonym. In fact, despite already having alcohol in his system a few hours after his keg session, he was _still_ drinking from the jug that he saved of his new favorite rum. He didn't even have the decency to drink out of the tumbler he conjured (and forgot about, and then wondered why it was there), he was now holding the jug and drinking straight out of it like an Irish man. Living his best life, the Kaioshin placed the jug on the table and reeled back far enough with a smile on his face, only to yelp because he leaned too far and fell backwards.

It didn't even register with him at first and he didn't even give a damn either. He just got right back up and leaned forward while going for his rum jug again, giggling to himself because of a funny thought that arose in his intoxicated mind. It was about a particular mortal that he was watching at one point, and it's not creepy; basically this guy, he looked to be middle aged in his species, was pissed off at another man who was younger than him. So he took to beating him with his shoes, and it left Khai perplexed. It wasn't until he gathered more 'intel' leading up to this situation when he found out the older man was seeing the younger man's wife, and if fact the wife herself was practically his sugar baby

He left the kitchen area and went to his main room -which took him longer than usual because ADHD tendencies go up tenfold when a Kaioshin is drunk- and entered his 'base of operations' because in this moment, _that_ story and several others sounded real good to tell to somebody, and whether or not they wanted or needed to hear it, whoever was on the receiving end will be blessed with the sophisticated tea spill that Khai will grant them.

...That's if he actually remembers to fill the cup first, of course…

* * *

It's not rare for Marcarita to be away from her attendee, Belmod at this point in time was taking a jog. That is an unorthodox thing to _do_ with his occupation, but it's one of the things that he always did as a mortal when he was bored, and it left Marcarita alone for a short amount of time.

After flying around the Universe, the angel pulled up and sat down in an empty control room. That was when her staff started to ring, and she looked into it to see the faint silhouette of a Kaioshin, this time unlike their normal calls she wouldn't be able to see him, all she had was the sound of his voice. Khai did say that he didn't want to be bothered while renovating his home, so why would he call her right now? Was he finished?

The angel decided to answer her staff. "He-"

"-and then he goes 'Well why don'cha keep y'hands off'a her!' and the other man just snorts an'es'all 'Whaddaya-who hands? _Mah_ hands? She asked for 'em, boy-"

Marcarita had to cock her neck back at the abrupt start, and she was even more confused when she realized _this_ was _Khai._ "Khai?"

Khai didn't seem to realize that he started talking way before Marcarita had answered, so he was talking to himself for quite a while.

Her voice was always very quiet, but it was enough to make the drunk man pause in his thousand-mile-per-hour story telling. "Huh? Wha-happened?"

 _Oh_ , he _wasn't_ speaking fast, Marcarita surmised, he was _slurring_. Why would Khai or all people slur in his speech? "Are you okay?"

He had an uptone to that question, almost to the point where he voice nearly cracked. " _Yeaaah,_ o'course I'm fine. Why ask?"

"Because you're… you're talking weirdly."

"How?" Khai was confused, he sounded a lot louder than usual too.

"You're slurring, you're talking loudly…" Marcarita had pieced together the reason behind this before she even popped the question. "Did you… drink?"

There was a pause. He was supposed to keep this under wraps, let absolutely _no one_ know that he was trying to see how much it took for him to get drunk, but again, right now he didn't know any better. "I just drank some _liquor_ , that's all."

He didn't even say liquor correctly, he said _liggor_. Goodness.

"Some?" Marcarita frowned. Kaioshin can't be inebriated by the same proportions of alcohol as mortals.

"Like… uhh…" Khai turned to the misplaced kegs, some of which were on the floor, and counted out loud. "...Four, five, si- seven, seven kegs. That's all."

Marcarita's eyes went wide. She couldn't even rebuke that if she wanted to since she herself didn't know how much it took for his race to get drunk. But… _that is not okay_. "Umm…"

"Macarita." He suddenly sounded really serious.

There was a pause. The angel expected him to continue. "... _Yes?_ "

"Were you listening to my story?"

 _Uh,_ she wished she did if Khai had waited for her to answer _before_ going off. She wasn't an avid liar, but in this situation she'd have to. "I did."

She could _see_ him leaning all the way back. " _Reaaaaaaaaaaaally?_ Then," he slapped his hand on the table, "Tell me whut'happ'nd."

Uh-oh. She could either make or break this one; listen, she loves Khai, seriously, but she didn't want to hear him drunkenly tell a story. "Well, a man got angry at another man for touching his wife, correct?"

"Uh, _no_." Khai sassed, and Macarita blinked. Aside from that being exactly what he described earlier, he sounded just like Zoiray when he said that. "I _saiiid,_ th't th'man who touched the other man's wife was like 'She asked me to, so don't complain' and th'other guy cursed him out, and thre'tened to destroy his suite."

"Khai, you didn't say any of that." Marcarita blinked twice.

" _Yes I did._ " Khai was swiveling in his seat, an action that he'd lambast someone else for doing when sitting in any of his chairs. "Ya jus' didn't listen."

"Khai, in all of the time you spend telling me about that," all of like twenty seconds, mind you, "you didn't say that all that at all."

"How d'you know?"

"Because I was _contacted by you_."

"There's no evidence, t'support ya claim." He kept hitting his fist against the table with every word.

Should she argue with him? Khai probably wouldn't remember a thing either. "What claim? What claim am I making, then?"

A pause, and then he honestly answered. "...I dunno."

 _Fair enough_. "Khai, do you still have any alcohol with you?"

He shook his head. "Uhhh no, I dranked it all."

 _ **Dranked**_ _._ Sober Khai would want to kill himself hearing such speech from his own mouth. "All seven of them?"

"Mm-hmm." And then he shook his head. "They tasted like… street dirt. It was jus' horr'ble, I was gagging and stuff."

Isn't that an oxymoron, _street dirt_? Marcarita ignored that. "Is there any water present?"

"I'm a _Kaiiiioshiiin_ , I don't _need_ water, 'm not weak." Khai crossed his arms and then pointed, as if Marcarita was there. "Maybe _you_ need water."

The angel, despite how uncanny this whole situation is, was trying not to laugh. "I'm fine, Khai. Don't worry about me."

"I'm not worried, 'm jus' sayin', you might be parched o'er there. Like, drink somethin', don't jus' starve."

He may have forgotten that angels don't harbor an evolutionary need to eat. "Khai…" She had no words, she just stroked her hair in a bit of thought.

"Ye?"

She shook her head. "You're _really_ drunk."

Another pause, because he was offended. "No."

"Yes you are. You are inebriated."

"I am not inebriated, 'kay?"

"You are." Marcarita was resolute. "End this call and go lay down."

" _Listen_." He put his elbow down noisily on the table while holding his hand up in a matter-of-factly fashion. "I can do _everything_ a sober individual can do, without any problems or concerns, because I am not _dunk_."

A long ass blink. "You just mispronounced 'drunk'."

He made a loud groaning noise. "Stop _nitpickiiiing!_ Tha's no fun."

She sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll stop nitpicking. Can I leave now?"

She wasn't asking that in a rude manner, she genuinely wanted to know if he was done but… logic didn't work in this case. "Leave where? Yer not even in th'room, Marcarita."

He sounded just as confused as she was now. "I meant the… call."

"Ohhhhh, yeah! I forgot I called you earlier!" Khai laughed, and Macarita chuckled a bit. _Does he think that he's on call with her now?_ "Why do you want to leave?"

"There is something I have to do." No there isn't. "Belmod needs my eyes for this."

"Tell him th'I said his head needs another coat."

Marcarita accidentally cracked at the sudden comment. Khai likens Belmod's head to a white polished shoe. "O-okay then." There was a pause, and then she heard the sound of him tapping his feet uncomfortably. That was a sound that she vaguely heard nearing the end of their chat, but _now_ it was really loud. "Are you okay, Khai?"

He sounded like a child when he said this next part, especially he was sort of straddling the chair while swinging his legs and keeping his thigh together. "I have to pee."

Marcarita nearly lost it. _Nearly_. "Then go, Khai! Don't just sit there-"

"OKAY." And then she heard him dash away, his footsteps getting more distant while a thought lingered in her head; _did he end the call..._

It wasn't long until she heard the sound of a door flinging open, and moments after, a really loud, hearty and satisfied ' _AAHH'_ was heard. Welp, that confirms that he didn't end it before he went to goddamn piss.

In the heat of her embarrassment because _that_ was something she never wanted to hear out of regal little Khai's mouth, Marcarita ended the call with the swiftness and then levitated to sit right by her staff. It beeped, letting her know that this call was saved. Luckily she did 'record' this interaction, just to show to him later. Only him though, not Belmod.

Marcarita decided that she would save Belmod from hearing about _any of this_ , because _imagine_ how long the Destroyer would live this one up. Khai would hide in his Palace every single day from the sheer embarrassment.

* * *

The next morning, Khai did not remember what he did, at all. But he knew it must have been crazy. How did you he know you may ask? Because he woke up without his orange outer armor, in an uncomfortable position on the rooftop of his Palace.

Like his cheek was planted on the roof, both his arms limp to his sides, with his butt sticking up in the air. He quickly flipped himself over and righted his position while looking all around to make sure _Belmod_ didn't catch sight of his rump just hanging in the air. Technically, if he wasn't a Kaioshin, his location right now would make a bit of sense just because he said he would renovate his Palace, so it would just look like he fell asleep in the middle of doing so.

But he _is_ a Kaioshin, so he can't be tired from standing and watching magic happen. Also, hangovers were not part of the Kaioshins makeup, when he peed that was basically the end of his drunken charades at its peak.

Seeing that no one was around, Khai took a deep breath and teleported himself back into the kitchen area and almost had a heart attack; there were a very small number of broken plates and glasses, and the jars were all over the floor, _and_ his beloved kettle was hanging on the faucet for some reason. To be honest, the mess didn't look that bad, but proper Khai felt like he saw the aftermath to a building after the LA Riots. The only thing that remained untouched was his teacup and his saucer.

Told you, tea is life.

Aside from that, he still reeked of various liquors, namely his clothing, and his hair was shiftly disheveled probably from whenever he took off his outer armor. That didn't make any sense either, because if that were the case that meant that he literally pulled it off from his head instead of unbuttoning it; hopefully he wasn't that stupid.

He resorted to cleaning everything up and magic-molding all the plates and glasses back and putting the kegs in a large closet by the entrance of the room. A bit of recollection came to him at this point; he did remember urinating at one point in the night. That was reasonable because it was literally all alcohol that was being funneled out of his system. He went into the bathroom thinking it'd be a mess too, but it wasn't; he opened the luxurious doors to the spacey restroom. The only thing that was out of place, was the fact that his armor was found fully buttoned, on the floor, next to the toilet.

Remember the outer armor thing? Yep, he was that stupid.

Khai shook his head and put on his outer armor _the right way_ , questioning how the hell drunken him had gotten the collar through his giant head and he'll admit, his head is pretty damn big. At least he has hair in a normal place, though.

He'll push aside all the things he's possibly done while drunk, because much of it was not coming to him at all. He reached the conclusion for his own theory; _how much alcohol did it take to get him drunk?_

...He'll just say a _lot_ , all ingested within a timeframe of maybe ten minutes or less.

Going back to his normal duties, Khai had opened his view of the entire Universe to circle around and see an overview of what's been taking place. This only took half an hour, and afterwards he teleported to where Marcarita was by seeking out her ki signature.

The moment he teleported into the room she was in, which was located in Belmod's realm, Macarita turned around with a very… repressed look, as if she knew something that he didn't. He conjured up a nice steaming cup of tea. "Good afternoon, Marcarita."

The expression got even worse, and it made Khai blink. "Good afternoon, Supreme Khai." She used his favorite moniker with a quieter voice than usual. As he went to sit down on the table, the angel went to sit down on the bed across from him, and she folded her hands while casting a gaze downwards.

 _Now_ Khai felt a guilty conscience. Why was she looking like that? "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." She simply said with a smile, and that smile was not very reassuring to _him_. "Are you okay?"

Khai went silent for a moment, his guilt nearly pouring in his face. But he tried to shake it off. "Uhh… yes? Why do you ask?"

"You don't remember?"

 _Oh crud._ "Remember what?"

Marcarita pursed her lips together for a moment with a curve to her purple lips. "You called."

"I...called?"

"While you were drunk."

 _Ohh no no no nono-_ "I-I did?"

"Yes."

What the hell did he say, while he was inebriated? "How long was it?" He hoped she'd say like… two seconds, like he accidentally contacted her and then hung up.

Her face said otherwise. "More than ten minutes."

Shit. "...Oh…" Khai looked down, he took a sip of his tea and drummed his nails against the cup. "I didn't bother you, did I?"

"Well, not really." Marcarita answered honestly, he wasn't a bother, she was just baffled like shit. "You were okay for the most part, but just drunk."

He was not okay. Her face did not show that he was okay. "Uh huh…"

"You want to see?"

 _Do I want to see?_ "What do you mean by _see_?"

"I saved it."

"No you didn't." He instantly answered, and felt like slapping himself because he was _really curious_ to see what he said or did.

"It wasn't showing you, so I only heard your voice which is good." She said, going to hold her staff and then stopping when seeing his apprehension. "I won't show it if you don't want me to."

"I…" He scratched the back of his head. "...I'm kind of curious…"

That was all Marcarita needed to hear, because she wanted him to see it _so bad_. It floored her when she replayed it and listened, it might floor him but that would be from him fainting over stupidity. That _has_ happened before. She tapped her staff against the ground, and he instantly heard nothing but slurring and a hand slapping against a thigh.

Instant dread ate his whole mood like a full course meal.

"No…" Aside from hearing Marcarita's concern and his dumbass speech, no way he did _not_ say _dranked_. At the mere mention of that, Marcarita couldn't hold herself in anymore, she just started laughing right then and there.

The dreaded conversation was indeed more than ten minutes, and he sat down and listened to _all_ of it, including the long pauses of registering what was said and his stupid ramblings. It had gotten up to the part where he suddenly informed Marcarita that his bladder was dying and from his needy voice alone Khai could remember the panging feeling in his poor groin. He almost got up and left the room amidst Marcarita's now cascading giggles, thinking that it was over once he dashed from his contact ball.

...He truly had no words as his face was now a deep shade of bashful red.

And then… and then he heard a rather obscenely loud groan in the bathroom, loud enough for Marcarita to hear, and long enough to make the angel fall to the ground, back at it again with her laughing fit.

Khai got up, took his tea from the table, and left the room without a word.

۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷۸۷

 **Marcarita will always be the party mom in a situation like this, no questions asked. Poor Khai lmao.**

 **Happy New Year, you guys. Enjoy it while the next one starts!**


End file.
